Haven
by mmsinful
Summary: Bella and Alice have survived everything together, including the infected. How much longer can they survive on their own. Can they trust anyone else they meet on the way? Warning: graphic violence, death, dark themes. Rated M. cannon, ExB
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. Plot belongs to me. Yay!

A/N: Hello again everyone. This story is came to me in a dream, and I couldn't get it out of my head and so here it is. This story will have some adult/dark themes, but I will warn you ahead of time. This is an Edward and Bella story, although it will build up to it.

Hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

**Prologue**

**BPOV**

I tried to stay as quiet as possible, even though it was really hard to do. My leg was hurting so much that if I could, given the chance, I would have amputated the damn thing. It hurt that much. The whimpers were coming louder and louder. I simply couldn't help it. I looked down at the ground and tried to concentrate on all the specks, dried gum, anything that could distract me enough. Nothing was working. All of a sudden, something resembling a snake, dangled in front of me. My scream resonated throughout the otherwise quiet night.

A hand covered my mouth, effectively cutting off any sound. "Shhhhh! It's just a belt for fucks sakes," whispered-yelled the voice that belonged to the man holding my mouth shut.

I turned around looking into the green eyes of the man I wanted to beat with my tattered leg, once amputated of course.

Edward looked back in to my eyes for a moment before he shifted them towards the belt he was holding with his other hand. "You need to bite this and keep quiet before that pretty little mouth of yours gets us caught."

I glared back as hard as I could and tried to back away from his hand over my mouth. He held on tight and smirked one last time before he finally released me. I snatched the belt from his hand and looked at it once to make sure there was nothing nasty on it before I put it anywhere near my face.

Edward noticed my examination and sighed dramatically. "You know, later when we're back in the compound, I can think of something better to put in that mouth of yours."

I looked at him with as much hate as I could convey with my eyes, and showed him my special middle finger proudly. "I'd say to stick this up your ass, but I figure you're already doing that."

Edward's face turned a shade dark as his face set in a glare. Jasper and Emmett were leaning against each other laughing, yet trying to be quiet. I finally placed the belt in my mouth and bit hard as a wave of pain hit my leg. Edward had served as a distraction multiple times, but today it had not been enough. We quieted down for a few minutes, straining ourselves to hear if it was okay to escape. We were not safe here, not by a long shot. But by some miracle, we had found the only lamp post with a working light, and it was keeping us alive. Jasper leaned down and handed me a gun, knowing it would be used to defend myself, if not, to kill me before I eventually would turn on them.

All of a sudden, the light above us flickered off and then on. It seemed as if the light was not going to hold on much longer. Realization set in our group of four; we would have to fight for our lives once the light turned off. Everyone checked their weapons, making sure to have enough ammo to last through this herd, or at least enough until we figured out a way to make our escape. Me being on the floor, and not being able to be of much use, laid down and held on to the ammo ready to be distributed as it was needed. My gun would be a last resort. The light above us flickered again, making a buzz sound, signaling that the impending end was near. That wasn't the noise that scared me though; it was the groans that had started up again, only this time, they sounded much nearer than what we had expected.

There was no way of telling how many were coming, it was completely dark beyond the circle of light. Worst of all, there were no signs of help approaching either. We were mortally screwed, and it had been my fault. I let out a strangled sob as I realized that the deaths of these three men were going to be my fault.

As if sensing my train of thought, Edward leaned down and whispered in my ear. "I'll find a way out," he promised, with an edge of panic in his voice.

I refused to look at him, as much as the guy grated on my nerves, he also set all the neurons in my body alive with overwhelming desire. I didn't want to see him sad. I wanted to remember that fire in his eyes that always challenged me. I wanted to remember the sarcastic asshole I fell in love with, not the compassionate emotional man I had only caught glimpses of.

He grabbed my chin, captivating my gaze in his. "I will get you safety. Trust me."

Did I want to believe him? Yes.

Could I? I wasn't so sure.

The scales weren't exactly tipping in our favor. Regardless, I needed to trust him. I leaned down and grabbed a handful of the bottom of his jeans with my hand and fisted them, knowing he would understand the gesture of trust. The leather in my mouth that had distracted me from the pain, was at this point unnecessary to keep me quiet. Instead, I looped in around my leg, on top of the wound, hoping the pressure would help me enough with the pain so I could concentrate and help the guys.

I looked up one last time at the guys surrounding me, and smiled my gratitude, as they returned the sentiment. This was it. With one hand fisted on Edwards jeans, and the other holding the gun pointing in what ever direction, I sucked in a breath, as the the light post finally flickered off, along with it the last remaining of my hope.

Yes, this was it.


	2. The Beginning

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.

A/N: Thank you to those of you who have placed this story on fav/alert and reviewed. You guys are awesome. Be sure to check out my other two stories.

Warning: This will be a slow progression. Not a fast meet and smooch story. The plot has to build.

* * *

**BPOV**

**April, 2009**

"Alice, get a move on! We're gonna be late!" I hollered, while furiously pounding the bathroom door. Honestly, how long does it take to brush your hair?

The door opened, revealing my annoyed sister with only half of her hair in a spiky fashion while the other half hung straight down to her chin. "Do you think, that this perfection," she pointed at her spiky side, "can be duplicated on this other side in a series of minutes?"

I was sure this was a rhetorical question, and was right as she closed the door on my face again. "I'm leaving, Alice. This is beyond ridiculous. We're only going to work. You don't need to prim the other side too. Hell! Don't prim at all. Now let's move or your ass is taking a cab."

I pounded her door one last time for good measure and turned on my feet to the opposite direction to grab my purse, checking to make sure I had everything I would need. A picture from my wallet slipped and fell to the floor before I could grab it. As soon as I saw it, I smiled, remembering our scheming from that day. It was a picture of Alice and I hugging with our arms around each other, wearing shit-eating grins and wearing naughty catholic school girl uniforms. I think we were about 15 years old.

If it had not been for me, we would have been stuck in the seventh purgatory of hell, other wise known as Catholic school with the meanest nuns the world had ever seen. Not once, did the girls in that school smile when we toured the campus. The students looked downright miserable, even the staff.

When her mom Carmen recommended to Renee that we should be placed in Catholic School to save our souls, a.k.a our virginity, I panicked. Soon after, 'Operation Blow Their Shit' was up and running. Alice and I had acted super excited about the prospect of a new school, but secretly gagged at the prospect. Alice stayed over for a slumber party one night; we set up my TV ready with the movie Cruel Intentions on the background and paused it on the scene where Selma Blair and the Buffy chick make out. Alice and I wore our new, and recently Alice-modified uniforms, and waited in the middle of the room for our moms to enter my room to say good night. As soon as we heard their foot steps coming up the stairs, we sat on our knees facing each other and pressed play on the remote control. Just as they were about to open the door, Alice wrapped her arms around my waist, underneath my sweater and shirt, while I pulled her head towards mine and held on to her face with everything I had. We kissed with such fervor, that even if we did have boyfriends, they would have doubted our relationship altogether. The loud screams coming from our moms broke our faces apart, panting and smiling innocently at them. We were dropped from our enrollment within the hour. We took the picture with her iPhone after the successful mission.

Alice, my sister for all intent and purposes, was as annoying as the day she was born. Regardless of the fact that we usually got on each other's nerves, we were really the only family we had. Her mom Carmen was a nosy, prudish bitch that was always in our business. She never met her real dad; she only knew his name had been Eleazar and that he had bailed on them as soon as he found out Carmen was pregnant. Renee on the other hand was a floozy, absentee moron. Charlie was an okay dad, when he wasn't at work or fishing. He served as both our dad whenever he was around, which wasn't often; therefore we relied heavily on each other.

"Shit, Bella. Are you even seeing the news?"

I turned around and frowned as I realized I had been staring at the picture for a long time. I put it away in my purse and looked at the news that Alice's eyes seemed to be glued on to. They were reporting about more cases of the virus H1N1 that had been surfacing not only in our country, but all around the world. The cases, which had been as low as maybe 10 to a country, had staggered to an increased amount of at least 200 within the past 2 days . It was spreading fast and the CDC was worried.

"So, what? Stay home right?" I asked feeling stupid right after it left my mouth.

"Yes, Bella," she said, exasperated. "Because we all know that you can't get sick if you stay home."

I mocked glared at her and turned around gathering my thick coat. "Why are you so worried about it? Sure, it's spreading, but seriously, Alice. You're starting to obsess over this."

She turned around and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Now I know how much you care that people are getting sick, but think about it. The numbers are going up at an alarming rate. How much longer before the number increases again?"

"Have there been any deaths?" I asked hoping to alleviate some of her concern.

"Yes," she dead-panned.

_Well shit. I didn't expect there to be any. Do I want to know the rate? Yes, yes I do. _I was still as curious as a 4 year old girl.

"How many?" I asked, hesitance clear in my voice.

She looked to be thinking about something before she answered without looking at me. "All of them."

Oh, oh. _How close has it gotten to the Seattle area? What if I get the flu? Who will take care of Alice? Who will take care of me and Alice? _I was freaking out.

When she saw the panicked look in my eyes, she quickly came over and hugged me. "We'll be okay. You and me. Plus, I'll kick your ass if you get sick."

I hugged her tighter, but decided not to worry unless there was something to really worry about. "You know, we're having a chick-flick moment here and I'm about to start kissing the shit out of you, so let me go before I haul you to my room," I said playfully, while smacking her ass.

She pushed me away laughing. "I've already kissed you, missy."

I waited for her to grab her things before we finally descended the steps to our townhouse and into her yellow bug she had named 'Bugsy.' I hated the damn car; it felt like you couldn't fit much of anything inside, even though it was quite roomy to my utter surprise. My Nessie, an Avalanche truck, was a complete different story. I had always driven big cars, even since I first started to learn how to drive in my old chevy truck. I felt like I needed to be able to see at least 2 cars in front of me in case someone got stupid and stopped paying attention to their driving. It had saved me from at least two accidents. I only wished I could drive my own car, but being that we were going to be late, we needed Alice to drive fast and to be able to swerve in between cars.

We finally arrived at work with five minutes to spare, and departed to each of our offices. We both worked for Little Bear Publishing Company, Seattle's top publishing company at that. She worked as an editor in the fashion department that dealt with books and magazines. She wasn't about to apologize whenever she changed things in the books or articles she thought were not up to par. I was one of the few editors in charge of fiction books. We both loved our jobs immensely.

I closed the door behind me and stopped to take a calming breath, trying to center and clear my mind for the busy day ahead. I needed to be relaxed, able to function properly and professionally, especially where my assistant Lauren was concerned. She was a major bitch, who was only tolerated because she actually did her job right. If it wasn't for her good work, she would have been out faster than the energizer bunny on speed.

I pressed the intercom button on my phone and spoke without checking to see if Lauren had even arrived. I didn't need to worry about her punctuality...at least. "Lauren, come in my office please."

Not five seconds had passed when she was already in my office with all the necessary supplies ready; she had my messages, her notepad, a few new scripts, and most importantly, my mocha. She waited patiently while I scanned the messages as I sipped my coffee. "There is one message that I didn't include in there because..." she trailed off suggestively.

I looked up at her and waited patiently for her to give me the information. "Well..." I prompted, while giving her a pointed look that said 'out with it already.' I was starting to panic, hoping it didn't have anything to do with Jacob.

The smirk on her face confirmed my suspicions. It was great gossip for her, but not good news for me. "Jacob Black called. He said to tell you that he's not taking no for an answer this time. Oh! And to stop returning the flowers."

_Fuck! Of all things it had to be this! Aaaaarggghhhh. No means no. No means no, damn it!_

Even though I was beyond furious in my head, my face stayed blank from any emotion. I wasn't going to give her any ammunition to share with Jessica who was Alice's assistant. "Okay, then. Well, you keep all flowers that I receive. Wait...did they come in today already?" I asked, knowing they already had.

Jacob was predictable as the sun rising from the East. I met Jacob about two years ago. I was the one responsible to edit his book; it had been the first book that I had worked on to ever reach the number one best seller's spot on it's first week. The book, which was based on wolves falling in love humans, had been an instant success that quickly demanded he continue to write the rest in the series. I was ecstatic, and so our relationship quickly morphed from a work relationship to that of friends. He had other ideas though; he not only proposed to me in front of hundreds on his book signing event, he added me as his main love interest in his second and third book. To say that our friendship was ruined would have been putting it lightly, especially when he kept insisting on sending me crap.

The shrill voice coming from Lauren broke me out of my thoughts. "Of course. So, I can keep them right?" The gleam in her eyes told me that maybe I had done wrong by giving her the flowers. Regardless, I didn't want them.

"Yes, go ahead and keep them. But also send him a thank you e-mail, video or an I-don't-care-to-know-how message detailing how _you _like the flowers."

"No problem. Anything else?" she asked, eager to get the hell out of my office. She hated being my assistant more than I hated her working for me.

"Well..." I deliberately took my time to scan the messages one more time... slowly, "...go ahead and call these four back to set up meetings in two weeks. Send these two scripts back to the authors for final adjustments and...make sure you call Jessica and coordinate my lunch with Alice. Other than that... just enjoy the flowers, but don't forget your thank you note."

She quickly stood and practically sprinted towards her desk. I waited patiently for the squeal that would indicate gossip spreading and...there it was; now I started the final countdown... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, for Alice to call.

Riiiiiinggggggggg

_Just like always_. "Hey, Alice," I sang into the receiver.

"Don't hey, Alice, me! I can't believe you're returning those flowers. Although... well, nothing. He's a creep anyway. I mean, who would want a stalker, right? But did you have to give them to the oxygenated blond? Come on, you should have given them to me. I'm your sister..."

I tuned her out as I continued to sip my mocha, making sure to make sounds in the appropriate places. This morning was not going to way I had expected. I turned my chair around and gazed through the glass wall at the the city below me, wondering how long before the city was hit with any flu cases.

"...and then I gave Charlie a blow job and it was soooo delicious, juicy even..."

As I heard that I quickly dropped the phone and spit my coffee all over myself and the window I was facing. I choked a little bit on the coffee I had managed to swallow and cough for a while. I patted my chest as a few tears streamed down my cheeks; I took a couple deep breaths as I gained control of myself. I remembered the phone call and what had been said, but when I went to grab the receiver, I realized it had been placed back by Alice who was already sitting in the chair in front of me.

"That was awesome!" she exclaimed, shaking hard with laughter.

I pointed my finger at her in anger. "You little... little...aaarrgggh, you're something, Alice! He's my dad and might as well be yours too. How could you say something so nasty?" I managed to wheeze out.

"Oh, chill out. It's not my fault I can say stuff without imagining it, unlike you. By the way, there's an extra blouse inside your bathroom. Next time don't ignore me when I talk to you on the phone. Don't think I don't know when you zone out. Don't you know already that I know you just as well as the sole of my foot?"

"It's the palm of my hand and I don't think you even know what your feet look like. You're always wearing heels, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed," I muttered.

She waved her hand dismissively. "That's beside the point. Anyway, I came to get you for the meeting."

"What meeting? Lauren didn't say anything about a meeting." As far as I knew, all the scripts pending to be edited were still on schedule, none of my projects were late, and I was still waiting for Jacob's latest submission. Was I missing something?

"Jane called the meeting. Something about too many people calling out, not completing the work on time, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, she just announced it so that's why the oxygenated bimbo hasn't said anything. "

"What does that have anything to do with us? She can take that up with whoever is in trouble. What are we, the resource department?"

"No, we're not. We're awesome. But still, it's a faculty meeting meaning you and mu-ah," she stood and curtsied, "are required to attend. So change quick and let's go so we won't be reprimanded for being late to that."

I quickly changed my blouse and headed with Alice to the conference room where the meeting was being held. The meeting had been as boring and stupid as I thought it would be. Nothing to do with Alice and me, but still reprimanded none the less.

The day passed slowly, too slowly in my opinion for lunch to arrive. We went to our favorite bistro about half a block from the office. The food was delicious and the service was fast. Besides, our favorite waiter Devon already knew what to get for us. Plus, he was too cute to look at.

"Mmmmm," I moaned. Whether it was from my awesome wrap sandwich, or from the view of Devon's ass from bending over to pick up a rag he dropped, I didn't know.

"Mmmhhhmmm," moaned Alice, who was currently chewing her salad while also dreamily looking at Devon's firm ass.

_Maybe it's the jeans,_ I mused. _Super tight around the legs leading up to the super tight bulge of_... "Owww, Jesus fuck," I screamed. I rubbed my shin with my hand. It hurt! Alice's laughter clued me in as to what or rather who had kicked me. "What the fuck, Alice?"

She leaned over and wiped the side of my mouth with her thumb and thrust it close to my eyes for me to see. "You not only said, and I quote, 'Maybe it's the jeans, super tight leading up to the super tight something,' " she imitated my voice in a high pitch. "There's a family with kids close by. Plus, you were actually drooling." She cackled in laughter.

I looked at her thumb, and sure enough there was my drool. To my utter horror, there also was a family two tables away from us where the mom was currently shooting daggers at me as she demanded her kids to finish their food quickly. I felt my face burst in heat as I grabbed the napkin and wiped my mouth discreetly. "You're being so mean today, Alice. What gives?"

"I'm only doing what any sister would," she said with a grin. "And yes, it's the jeans," she whispered in conspiracy.

We both continued to laugh during the remainder of our lunch hour, making sure to leave Devon a nice tip for the new**Jeans That Make Devon's Ass Look Delicious Fund**. Lunch had been a spectacular distraction from the daily monotone. I was prepared to push my way through the herd back to the office, but as we walked back, I couldn't help but notice how there weren't that many people hurrying around. It would always be mayhem trying to get back to the office, and yet today, there were only a handful of people.

"Maybe we're late," offered Alice. We both looked at our watches and frowned; we still had at least seven more minutes left.

Once we arrived, I got back to work in no time. I still had three more hours to go, and wanted to make sure that I finished as much work as possible; I had a book signing for the following week, so the less pending work I had left, the better. Lost in the world of the manuscript I was reading, I jumped in my seat when a frazzled looking Jane barged in my office unannounced.

"Is everything okay?" I stood up and walked towards her. Just because I wasn't too fond of her, didn't mean I couldn't be of any help. It worried me to see her showing any emotion; she had the best poker face I had ever seen.

"Yes, I mean no. I don't know what's going on. Half of the staff left home early because they weren't feeling good. I would usually say I don't care, keep working. But when more than half your staff comes down with the same thing, it can only mean that it's only a matter of time until you get it. So what I'm trying to say is, go home. I'm closing down for the weekend. I don't want the rest of my staff getting whatever it is that's floating around. Hopefully by Monday the other half will be better enough that they'll be back to normal."

"Okay, um... I still have some work to do so I think I'll just stay until..."

"I said go home, Isabella. I'm closing down the building and having the cleaning crew come early so they have enough time to clean the entire building from top to bottom. I want the place sterilized."

"Are you sure that's necessary?" It seemed a bit over the top to me.

"Yes it's necessary. Don't push it, Swan. Take the work home with you if you're so worried. Just make sure you're back by Monday ready for the book signing." She turned on her heel and strode out of my office.

I sat back down on my seat and wondered if the people who had gotten sick were going to be okay. I just hoped that it wasn't the flu that had finally reached Seattle. Then a thought struck me, horrifying me down to my core.

_What about Charlie? He's all alone in that big house. Well...Sue is there, but even then, she doesn't know him like I do._

He was the only one besides Alice that I cared about. I needed to make sure that he was okay, or that at least there was real food at home instead of cold pizza. I needed to see him and make sure he was fine.

_Way to let them go on their own Swan_.

I reached over for the phone and dialed Alice's extension. As I waited for her to pick up, I became more worried, which was never good because my mind went crazy with different ideas.

"Hey, did you hear? This sucks! Can you imagine the smell of disinfectant when we return on Monday?" she answered, sounding breathless.

"Yeah, I can only imagine. Listen, Alice. How do you feel about going to Forks and pay Charlie a visit this weekend?"


	3. It Starts

**It starts**

**Disclaimer: Everything Twilight related belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**A/N: Thank you all for your support. It is greatly appreciated. I am also posting pictures on my profile related to the story, I know how some people like visuals. I'll try to keep a posting schedule of Thursdays, unless your reviews motivate me to write faster. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

**BPOV:**

**April 2009**

Having brought work home had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I was home, I couldn't bring myself to even glance at the pending paperwork. I knew I should have stayed back in the office to finish, but once the thought of Charlie entered my mind, everything else didn't matter.

Alice had been in her room for the past hour pacing around, muttering about what was acceptable and what wasn't. I didn't understand why it was so hard to decide. It rained in Forks all the time; the place had a dreary feel to it, perfect for the scene of any horror movie, not to mention all the mud. Why she would even consider wearing heels was beyond me.

I had packed enough clothes for the next couple of days, as well as a few essentials that I wasn't too sure we would need. I had a flashlight included as well as matches. There had been a storm one time we visited Charlie where we were left without any source of light for hours. He had been called away and with no light available, Alice and I had been sure we were just about to be murdered by the various shadows that were cast through the window by the lightning. Charlie had found it amusing to find his two daughters hugging in pure panic inside the closet, holding on to brooms and bats for protection. It really wasn't funny at all, at least not at the time.

I loaded my duffel bag in the back seat of Nessie, my truck. I loved that she was big, had a lot of room to seat at least 5 people, and yet small enough for me to drive. Just as I closed the driver's side door, a hand slammed on my truck next to my head. I jumped in fright and turned around to glare at my assailant, ready to rip his head off.

"Why the fuck did I receive an e-mail from your assistant Lauren, saying she enjoyed the flowers that she had to pick out of the trashcan you threw them in, oh, and that she was available unlike you?"

Anger surged through me as I leaned my body on the tip of my toes to get closer to his face. "First of all, I didn't throw them in the trash. I told her to keep the flowers because you were the one that said to stop returning them. I don't want them, Jacob. How many times are we going to fight about this? I don't want the flowers, I don't want any jewelery, I don't want to be in any more of your stupid books, and I definitely don't want to date you!" I leaned back on my feet, happy to have finally released all that pent up frustration that had been brewing under the surface for the past year or so.

"Are you fucking him?" he seethed.

"Am I fucking who?" I asked completely confused.

"HIM! That asshole from the deli."

"I don't even know who the hell you're talking about, Jacob. Enlighten me please because I simply don't have time to put up with your shit today!" My hands automatically balled in to fists as I tried to reign in my anger before I smacked him in the crotch.

He flexed his hand and placed it on my shoulder in a tight grip. The feeling was very uncomfortable; besides it being a little painful, it was more the feeling of being caged in that worried me.

"The deli," he repeated slowly. "Today, you had lunch with Twit, and you were both staring at that waiter. Now, are you fucking him?"

_Deli? Deli? Oh my shit!_ "You've been following me? Who the hell do you think you are? Just because we were friends at some point doesn't give you the right to follow me anywhere!"

"Are you? Yes or no? It's a simple question!" he yelled.

Just as I was about to answer him with my fist, Alice came storming down the stairs holding on to a taser gun, pointing it directly at Jacob. "Back off you overgrown nincompoop, or I'll show you what parts of your body twitch when I fire this baby."

Jacob took a step back and held his palms up in a surrender motion. "This doesn't concern you, Twit. So why don't you... aaaaaarghhhhhhhh!" he screamed in agony, falling down on his knees and twitching on the grass.

"Alice!" I yelled, horrified that she actually shot him. It was like watching in slow motion, the way the little hooks fired out of the gun, attaching themselves to Jacob's chest.

Alice stood above him as she held on to the gun in a tight grip. I couldn't help but feel a little smug at my little friend for having the foresight to actually use the gun Charlie had insisted we would need someday. She really was awesome. I wasn't sure how to feel at the thought of Jacob being in pain. Sure, he had been a friend of mine for months, but the fact that he went psycho-stalker on my ass overrode any pity I had for him. I just simply couldn't find it in me to care, and that scared me just a tiny bit, but not enough to stop her.

"Don't _Alice_ me. He called me 'Twit.'" The gun automatically stopped after 30 seconds from electrocuting him. He stayed on the ground as she gave him the warning that next time he approached either of us, she wasn't above hitting him with a bat on the family jewels while he also got electrocuted into the next century.

Jacob got up slowly and swayed a bit as he gathered his surroundings. He glared at Alice, pointing his finger at her. "You better hope I don't catch you by yourself next time, Twit. You won't like it. And you," he pointed at me, "I will see you again." Just as he turned around to walk back to his car, he fell to the ground, whimpering in pain. He had forgotten to take off the hooks; Alice didn't.

"Call me Twit again!" Alice yelled, stomping closer to him. Just as she was about to reach him, she stopped and turned around to look at me with a big calming smile. "The big ones do fall hard!" She turned around to look at Jacob's withering form on the ground. "Go get my bags and put them in the car, Bells," she ordered calmly.

I looked at her, confused as to how she could be so calm when I was about to have a freak out. I hesitated for a second before I eventually complied and grabbed her bags from the living room. I dragged her two suitcases down the stairs and onto the bed of my truck, depositing them inside before I close the hardcover lid over them. "Got them!" I yelled over the shouting of cuss words Jacob was spewing.

Alice had alternated between firing on and off every couple of seconds instead of the automatic 30 seconds, laughing hysterically. Just as Jake was about to stand up, she would shock him again only to repeat the process. I made sure the house was locked up and made my way to my truck, starting it to make an escape. Just as she stopped firing the gun, she leaned over his prone body and slammed her small heel on his crotch, eliciting his highest pitch wail ever. I couldn't help but grimace along with him.

"I warned you," she sang. She pranced her way on to the truck and I floored the gas just as she closed the door.

She was checking the gun, making sure there was no permanent damage as she reloaded the new cartridge on the tip barrel, an an extra one on the end where the batteries were located.

"What the hell was that?" I asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"He called me a Twit," she responded calmly, and that was all the reason she needed.

"Well shit, Alice. Couldn't you have at least tortured him a little less? Oh, and don't get me started on the heel stunt. I felt his pain, and I don't even have one!" I admonished.

"Did you stop me?" she inquired.

I thought back to how proud I had been of her for using the gun, and then at how calm I had been at getting the luggage and the house closed. Guilt poured over me as I realized that she was right. I didn't stop her.

"That's what I thought," she boasted.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered. "I can't believe he followed us to the Deli. Seriously, who does that?" I ranted.

"Jacob. Jacob does. "He just better hope he didn't do anything to our favorite waiter."

The rest of the car ride was silent, until a thought came to me. "How loud was he screaming?"

She looked at me with a smile. "Loud."

I looked at her expectantly. "Yeah, he did. Didn't you notice how nobody came out to check what all the ruckus was about?" I urged.

After a couple of seconds of thinking she nodded. "You're right. Even the nosy neighbor... what's her name again? Oh yeah, Mrs. Montgomery didn't come out to complain about the noise."

"Forget about the hag, Alice. I'm more worried that nobody called the cops on your ass. You're suppose to report that shit, Alice. If it's traced back to you and they find out you didn't report it, you're gonna be in so much trouble. Plus, it wasn't like anybody could tell you weren't holding a real gun. With all the screaming he was doing, they would have called," I insisted.

"Charlie will cover for me," she reminded me. _Still..._

She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the numbers slowly. "I wonder..."

"You wonder what, Alice?"

"Ssh," she hissed. She continued to scroll down the numbers until she reached the one she was looking for, and placed the phone up to her ear. "Come on, come on."

I kept stealing glances at her, getting more frustrated as she kept scrolling through numbers, repeating the process over again. "Nobody's answering the phone."

I pulled my phone from my back pocket and checked to see if I had any missing calls; there weren't any. "Call Charlie please," I begged.

She grabbed my phone and dialed Charlie's cell phone with it, along with the house phone with hers. She waited patiently for a couple seconds until she closed both phones. "He didn't pick up on either line, Bells," she whispered. She tried again, only this time calling the police station; Maggie from dispatch informed Alice that he didn't show up for his shift.

I pushed down the accelerator, completely worried now. Alice felt the speed increasing and looked at the speedometer, approving the change. She continued to try and call people, becoming more frustrated as the minutes passed; she finally gave up once the phone lines went completely dead. "Well, I didn't expect that one," she muttered angrily.

"Do you think he's okay?" I asked a hoarse voice.

"Of course he's okay. He's Charlie. If anyone knows how to take care of themselves it's him. Don't worry about it."

We continued to drive down the road in complete silence, until she finally grew tired and turned on the radio. None of the radio stations were playing music; all of them, and I mean all of them, were talking about the outbreak that had finally reached the state of Washington.

"Do you think that's why no one came out to check on Jacob's screaming?" I hesitantly asked. I wasn't sure what would have been better, either getting thrown in jail for torture, or have all the neighbors sick from a potentially deadly virus.

"I'm sure they're fine, Bells," she assured me, while grabbing my hand in hers. She looked so distracted as she concentrated on the news.

_Should I tell her that I haven't seen that many cars either?_

We finally reached the outskirts of town, and continued to drive, only this time at a much more reasonable speed. That last thing I needed was to get a speeding ticket from one of my dad's deputies. The rain continued to pelt the car down, not too much where you couldn't see in front of you, but enough to where you would be soaked from head to toe in seconds. There was no one outside, but then again, with the small population and the rain, I didn't expect anyone to be. We were about five minutes away from my dad's new house when we reached the only intersection light in the whole town; it was red.

"Of all things that are holy. Seriously, Bells! How much bad luck do you have? The only light in this whole town and it's red. You know it would have been green for me. But no, it's y..."

"Whose that?" I interrupted her, just as I spotted a small person standing by the curve. She was standing in the rain wearing nothing but a large white blouse. She didn't have shoes, a coat or umbrella with her either. She just stood there motionless, dripping wet, not moving, almost as if in a trance. She didn't look any older than 15 possibly.

Alice looked through her window at the girl I was pointing at and frowned when she noticed the same observations I had. "Do you think she needs help?"

"I don't know, Ali. Regardless, it's raining and super cold. Look at her, does she even look like she knows she's getting wet?" I asked as a little hysteria entered my voice.

"Let me go check..."

"NO!" I yelled, grabbing on to her arm. The whole scenario had me on edge, whatever was going on didn't seem right. "Let's just go to Charlie's and tell him. He'll know who she is and for all we know maybe she's medicated or something."

"Okay," she placated.

I tensed at her words because she had given up too easily without putting up a fight. I looked into her eyes for any sign of deceit; I found nothing. I finally released her and the breath I had been holding. As soon as I let her go, she pushed the door open, and jumped out on to the rain before I could catch her.

"Alice! Get back in the car! Alice!" I yelled, putting Nessie in park, throwing myself towards her seat to catch her.

She continued to ignore me as she got closer to the girl in question. She was just about five feet from her before she stopped abruptly. I leaned over the open door for a better look, trying to see if I could at least hear what they were saying. I couldn't hear anything, and that worried me to no end. She took an attentive step closer, when all of a sudden, the girl turned her head in a sharp movement towards Alice and lunged her body towards her, making a growling sound I had only ever heard animals make.

"Alice!" I yelled, as I watched my sister go down.


	4. Encounters

**Encounters**

**Disclaimer: Everything Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended. I don't own anything.**

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the support the story has received. I was a little skeptical as to how people would like it, it's not everyday one would read a story with gore in it. I'm glad you enjoy it though. **

**Just want to make something clear: the infected are not exactly zombies, vampires, werewolves, mutants, demons, angels, humans, or aliens. They will be a variety of things combined. I wanted the chance to create something a little different. None of them will have powers. The infected won't be super slow like the original zombies, intelligent and super fast like the Romero zombies; like I said, I wanted something different. If you don't like that, then I can give you the names of stories who have regular eating flesh zombies in them. I hope you will give this a try though. Also, anyone who reviews will get a teaser e-mailed on Mondays, so make sure you don't block the option in your settings. Until next time!**

* * *

**Previously on Haven:**

"_Alice! Get back in the car! Alice!" I yelled, putting Nessie in park, throwing myself towards her seat to catch her. _

_She continued to ignore me as she got closer to the girl in question. She was just about 5 feet from her before she stopped abruptly. I leaned over the open door for a better look, and to see if I could at least hear what they were saying. I couldn't hear anything, and that worried me to no end. She took an attentive step closer, when all of a sudden, the girl turned her head in a sharp movement towards Alice and lunged her body towards her, making a growling sound I had only ever heard animals make. _

"_Alice!" I yelled, as I watched my sister go down. _

**APOV**

**April 2009**

You know how they say that your life flashes before your eyes right before you're about to die? Well, I can honestly say, that theory was proven to be shit. Your life doesn't flash before your eyes, not at all. What did flash before my eyes though were words, one word to be exact: **HIDE**. It was all I could think about while I fought for my life, almost as if someone was screaming it inside my head: **HIDE!**

I approached the drowned girl in front of me cautiously, keeping in mind what Bells had said about her possibly being medicated. I didn't want to scare her, hence the cautious steps. It brought memories back of the early days when my mom Carmen used to... I couldn't think about those days. Those days were dark and lonely. Besides, this wasn't about me at the moment, I could always deal with my emotions when I was alone.

When I saw the girl standing in the rain looking like my former self, well...let's just say it sealed the deal. I had to help her regardless of what Bells said. She didn't understand what it felt like to be left in a void. For all I knew, she had a Carmen in her life.

I stopped a few feet away from her, knowing that my proximity would not help. I was close, but not too close to where she felt threatened. Her head was slightly bowed down with her blond hair acting as a curtain around her, leaving me unable to see her face. There didn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her, except for the red spots of blood on her ugly concert t-shirt, and her incredibly pale skin. _Really, who the hell listens to N-Sync anymore?_

"Hi, I'm, Alice," I cooed in a soothing voice.

No response.

"Do you need help? I can take you to the hospital."

No response, or twitch to even indicate that she heard me. _Maybe she's deaf?_

"What's your name sweetie?" I asked, taking a small step in her direction.

Her head snapped up sharply in my direction, a growling noise coming deep from her chest. Her eyes were freaky! Her irises were an astonishing dull red color, red rimmed around the edges as if she had been crying with dark circles underneath them. She wasn't looking at me directly, giving me the impression that she was blind; but I felt as if she was aware of my exact location. Her nostrils flared as her mouth opened wide, showing her teeth soaked in a grey, translucent, gooey substance that was definitely not saliva.

I took a startled step back just as she growled, lunging her body over mine. I fell on the ground, landing on my back with her over me; there was sharp pain shooting through my spine. I was smart enough to place my legs up so she would land on them instead of my chest. She was strong, very strong for a young girl, if you could call someone with red eyes a girl. Her hands were curved as if they were claws, scratching my arms with vicious attempt. Her opened mouth growled, trying to get to my neck.

**HIDE! HIDE! HIDE!**Kept chanting inside my head.

"Alice!" yelled Bella, as she ran towards me. "Get off her!" She grabbed the girl by her hair and yanked her off me. She dragged the girl away a few feet until the girl grabbed on to her arms pulling her down. "Aaaaaaaa!" she screamed.

I stood up on shaky legs, trying to make sense of what was going on in my head. Where were the pretty pictures, the lovely memories? **Hide! Hide! Hide!** _Hide where? _

Bella was struggling with her hold, as she kept twisting her head, body, trying to get a bite out of my sister. Her growling increased with her efforts. Bella was lying down on the floor on her side, holding with all her strength to the girl's hair, kicking her hands and feet each time the girl would attempt to claw her way close to her. I rushed towards them and grabbed each of her ankles in a tight grip.

"Swing and throw her!" I yelled over the growling and pouring rain.

Bella looked at me confused until realization dawned on her. She nodded her head in acknowledgment as she stood up slowly, still holding on to the strands of hair. She let go with one hand and tried to grab the girl's hand instead, but the moment she let go, the girl turned her head towards Bell's hand and tried to bring it close to her mouth. Giving up, Bella returned to grabbing the girl's hair tightly in her hands. We swung the girl's body, left to right, left to right, three times; just as she gained enough height and momentum, we threw her writhing body to the side of the road. Her body landed some feet away from us in a loud thump.

Bella ran and hugged me to her chest, before finally checking me for damage. My arms were covered in scratches that were bleeding slightly. She had small scratches on her wrists with dark purple bruises on her arms. Both our clothes were wet and disheveled.

"Shit! You're bleeding," she exclaimed as she ran her hands over the cuts and shredded sleeve of my jacket.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Are you okay? Those bruises are only going to get darker." ** Hide. Hide. Hide, **was playing over and over inside my head.

"Don't worry, you know I bruise easily. So..." she trailed off, tilting her head in the girl's direction. We turned to look at the girl as we finally noticed that she wasn't growling, or attacking us anymore. She was lying on the floor, her eyes wide open staring at nothing. She wasn't moving an inch, just lying on the floor.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"We get the hell out of here and look for Charlie."

"She has blood on her shirt, Bells! We can't just do nothing and leave her there in the rain!"

"Do nothing? Didn't you noticed when she tried to get a chunk- a la – Alice? Or how about them scratches? Did those magically appear too? How about the fact that poltergeist girl has red eyes. Does that mean we do nothing? No, it means we do something, and it's to get the hell out of here!" she ranted, her eyes looking wild.

I didn't listen to her, because that's how it worked between us. I needed to help, to understand the hide, hide, hide. The closer I got to the girl, the more aware, and more noises she made. Bella grabbed my arm, pulling me back fast as the girl lifted herself off the floor running towards us. We bolted back in to the car, closing the doors just as poltergeist girl reached the window.

"Holy shit!" screamed Bella.

The girl continued to growl, pounding her hands on the glass trying to get to us. Bella put Nessie on drive and floored the accelerator down the street. The girl followed behind us a couple of steps before finally stopping in the middle of the street, unmoving again.

Bella drove like a maniac down Charlie's street in a flurry of panic. I couldn't stop looking at the blood stained window to my right. It was utterly disgusting, and worst of all, I looked down at my bloody arms that were marred with scratches. The girl with the freaky red eyes had almost taken off a chunk of my face. I didn't know what I was feeling. Was this the first symptom of shock? Was this numbness the first symptom? I wondered if I should ask Bells, but as I looked at her shaking in her seat, I decided that I wasn't the one in shock.

As soon as she reached Charlie's new house and parked Nessie, we both leaped out of our seats, slamming the doors behind us. We ran the rest of the steps up and banged on the door, well, she banged while I screamed.

"Charlie! Open up! Please!" _Please open the door!_

Pound...Pound...Pound

"Dad!" she cried.

_What if she decided to follow?_

I kept looking behind me, making sure we weren't followed the by freaky eyes chick. No one seemed to be home, or so I thought, until I saw movement from the window next to me. We screamed louder until finally relief washed over us I the door opened up a bit. A sob escaped from my throat as we were about to push our way through.

"Stop right there!" demanded a gruff voice, a voice that did not belong to Charlie. A voice that belonged to a guy with sparkling green eyes.

We both raised our hands up surrender as we noticed the shotgun being pointed to our faces. I had never seen this man before in my life. I calculated my chances at taking the shotgun from him or running in between his parted legs to get inside and find Charlie.

Sensing my plans, green-sparkling eyes placed the shotgun on the tip of my nose. "Don't even think about it ankle-biter."

_Ankle-biter? Ankle-biter? _The stupid comment reminded me of stupid Jacob and his Twit nickname for me. I stood up on my toes and pointed my manicured nail at his chest. "Listen here Stretch. Nobody! I mean nobody, calls me anything without my consent. I will kick your balls into your brain and serve them for easter if you so much..."

"Alice?"

Charlie was standing by the staircase landing, looking disheveled in his pajamas.

"Dad!" we both yelled, as we pushed through Stretch and crashed our soaked bodies to Charlie's.

He hugged us tight, patting our backs awkwardly. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Are you girls hurt?"

"Yes...no...yes...Alice was attacked," the traitor answered.

"No, just scratched, but she has bruises. Oh! There was this girl with red eyes and she jumped on me, like jumped on me and growled all like grrrrrrrrrrrrr, for reals and then had red eyes, real red eyes, I thought I would never see red eyes. And then Bells ran and pulled her hair like in wrestling and then she tried to eat her too but we pushed her away and we ran inside Nessie just in time but she didn't follow us for long. Oh, dad you have to help her, she might be on meds!" I finished my speech with a gulp of air, my lungs protesting with the strain.

I realized no one had said anything for a while. I glanced around, finding everyone staring at me with open mouths: Bella, Charlie, Stretch and girl with red hair.

"Hello! I'm, Alice. And you are?" I extended my and to hers.

She looked at it like if I was crazy before she finally grasped it with hers. "Victoria. Victoria Richards. And this is my brother Riley by the way. Sorry for the gun, we just didn't expect anyone to come banging on the door."

"What do you mean expect anyone? Dad, where's Sue and who are these people?" demanded Bella.

Charlie looked at the people in question, raising his eyebrows. "They're staying here for a while. Mark's friends and since I live alone, I thought I'd let them keep me company during their stay."

"Okay, that's fine. The gun was not necessary. What are you thinking letting them point the gun at anyone at the door?"

"I don't point the gun just at anyone. Only the ones who come banging on it for no reason."

"Reason? REASON? We were attacked asshole. I think we had enough reason to come banging at MY father's house!" yelled Bella. Her face had become so red, I was slightly worried she might pass out from lack of oxygen.

"Enough!" yelled Charlie. "Bells, they are my guests and you will treat them with respect. Just like they will treat you two with respect. Am I clear?" He looked at everyone waiting for confirmation. "Good! Now, tell me exactly what happened with the..." He looked at me expectantly.

"Freaky red eyes Daddy," I said sweetly, playing emphasis on the daddy word.

He smiled faintly before he cleared his throat. "Right, freaky red eyes?"

I nodded my head before I lead everyone to the sitting room where Bella and I went in to extreme detail from our previous encounter. We made sure to leave no detail out. At the end of our speech, Charlie went to call the station but claimed the phone lines were down. I remembered my phone and checked it, verifying with him that cell phones were out of the question. He went upstairs to change while we all stared at each other.

Charlie came back down, fixing the gun on the holster. "I'm just gonna check the girl out and take her to the hospital if needed. Bells, do you think you could make me some of that lasagna of yours?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

"Of course dad, you don't have to ask." She smiled back.

"Okay, good."

_Where's Sue? _"Hey, dad. Where's Sue? Shouldn't she home from work already?" I suspiciously asked.

"Oh, Sue went back to the Res. for some type of convention or meeting, so she won't be back until Monday. Now, all of you are adults so be good."

_Sure Charlie, I'll be good but not until learn the truth._

"Yes sir," we all chorused.

"Good." He walked out of house with a nod of his head.

We all waited in silence until we couldn't hear the cruiser's engine anymore.

I turned to our guests, planting my hand on my hips, daring anyone to deny me information. "Now, are you guys gonna tells us who you really are?"


	5. Observations

**Chapter 5: Observations**

**Disclaimer: ****All recognizable characters, settings, places, belong to their respectable owners. No copyright infringement was intended. I do not own anything.**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but am I the only having trouble uploading the story on this site? I've been trying for days now to upload the chapter, but I keep getting an error message. THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING! As I looked at my outline for future chapters, I realized I had already changed the story somewhat, so I had to do some modifications, and well, it threw me off course. Anyways, I won't promise chapters on Thursdays anymore just because I don't want to let you guys down again if I'm unable to deliver or the site crashes again, but I do promise a teaser to those of you who review and at least 1 chapter every week (again, as long as the site doesn't crash on me). Thanks to those of you who have reviewed as it makes me smile and your comments motivate me to continue this story. So... on with the show. **

* * *

**WARNING: **

**THIS STORY CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE. IF YOU ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO BE CUSSING, YOU ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO READ IT!**

_**Previously on Haven: **_

_Alice and Bella arrived at Forks, only to be attacked by a young girl standing still in the rain. She had red eyes and growled as she attacked both girls. They escaped just in time and made it to Charlie's new house. When the door finally opened, they were greeted by a man holding a shotgun towards them. We get to know them as Riley and Victoria, friend's of Mark, a deputy who works with Charlie. The phone lines are dead so Charlie leaves in the cruiser to investigate the girl. Alice becomes weary of the couple and begins to interrogate them._

**BPOV:**

I watched as Alice place her hand on her hips, a gesture I was too familiar with. What was she up to now? Did I want to know? Yes I did, but maybe later. Right now, I was still trying to process all of the events leading to where we were now. I ran over the events in my head like a movie that was on rewind, going over all the details I might have missed at the time of them happening.

First, was my morning with Alice, hearing the news of the outbreak spreading. I wasn't too concerned with it at the time, only feeling grief for the people that had died already, and panic that it might reach the people I loved. I wondered if all the stuff that had happened today was in any way related to the virus that was rapidly spreading.

Work had been unexpected. I realized now that many people had actually been missing from work, to the point that Jane had sent the rest of us home as a precaution. Jane never...never let anyone go home early, which was why everyone always called in sick instead. The fact that she went against her usual norm should have sent warning bells in my head.

Jacob coming to my house was entertaining now that I had time to think about it. Not him coming over exactly, but the revenge Alice pulled on him was priceless. What had me worried were the events from there after. The pretty much empty streets, no cars down the highway, no one answering their phones, the lines going completely dead, the crazed girl who attacked Alice, and now... these crazy people pointing guns at us.

I took the time to examine them more carefully, aware that Alice was on to something. Mark didn't have many friends, and if he did, they certainly would never dress like them. Mark never left the town of Forks, not even to go to Seattle. The only place he ever left for emergencies had been to Port Angeles. His wife had divorced him last year, meaning he had plenty of room in his house for visitors. Besides, he had no family besides an estranged aunt, and an angry wife and kids.

Victoria, along with her flaring red hair, had a regal majestic air to her. Her hair flowed down as red silk to the middle of her back. Her eyes were an astonishing violet color, so inhuman. Her clothes were impeccably clean, expensive, reeking money. Her manicure showed that she had never worked a day in her life. Yet, there was something about her posture that screamed different emotions. She was tense, yet afraid, or maybe cautious. The fire in her eyes was a startling contrast to her demeanor.

Riley, stood in front of her, almost as if he was trying to shield her in a protective stance. His blond hair stuck up in different directions looking soft, even though it was heavily coated in gel as if he had tried to tame it. His green eyes were his best feature among his boyish face. His body wasn't muscular, but he wasn't lanky. He was wearing fine clothing too. His tall form seemed almost imposing, threatening. Oddly enough, I was not scared of him.

A look inside the kitchen told me that these people had been here longer than what Charlie had implied. There were dirty dishes all over the counter and table. Dirty pots were still on the stove with the remnants of burned food. Stake out containers were littered all over the place, not only the kitchen. Sue must have been gone longer than the weekend, I knew that for sure; she would never let her house get in this state.

"I'm pretty sure I don't know what you're talking about. We told you, she's Victoria and I'm, Riley."

"And I'm pretty sure you're full of shit, Stretch," Alice responded back angrily.

"It's pretty clear that you guys are not friends to Mark, or even family. In case dad forgot to mention, he's divorced, so the lie of not having enough room in his house is horse shit. You guys are dressed as if you just stepped out of the runway; I know because I had to endure Alice talking about it for weeks when the line was launched. Which by the way implies that you are from the city, not a small town. You come from money, or at least have a substantial amount. Her hands, and yours too by the way, indicate that none of you are familiar with hard work. This place has not been cleaned in a while; Sue would never let her house get this way, which tells me she's been gone at least a week, not weekend. Not to mention that Riley is holding a shotgun inside the Chief's house. Dad always has all the guns locked in the basement," I ranted off my observations.

On my right, I saw Alice's hand moving steadily towards the handgun Charlie always had hidden underneath the lamp table. As much as I wanted to continue with my accusations my anger deflated faster than a fart as I realized that Alice's arms were bleeding through her sleeves. I had to take care of her first and foremost, before we launched an attack on them.

I placed my hand on her shoulder to calm her vibrating body down a notch. "Don't, Alice. I'll take it from here," I murmured to my sister. "Why don't you go to the bathroom and clean those scratches out before they get infected while I start the lasagna before dad gets back? Riley and Victoria are not going anywhere from what I can tell, you'll get your chance to interrogate them later okay? I know you're itching to do it. Right now, you're more important than them."

She eyed me skeptically before she nodded. She gave Riley one last lingering look; she used her middle and pointing finger, waving them between her eyes and him in the universal 'I'm watching you sign,' before she finally left to the bathroom up the stairs.

I turned to look Riley and Victoria, who both looked like death had arrived. "Look, I know you guys are hiding something. You know it, and we both suspect it. That's your business. But the fact is that you are involving my dad somehow, which makes it my business. If you don't want to tell me what it is fine, but just answer this one question so that I at least know what to expect."

Riley turned back to look at Victoria questioningly for approval before he looked back at me and nodded his head in agreement.

"Are you guys in danger?"

They didn't answer right away, slightly flaring my anger again, until Victoria sighed in resignation and nodded her head.

"That's why you have the shotgun at the ready, right? You thought that who ever it is you're hiding from had found you," I stated more than asked. _Listen to me, I'm reading too many novels, as if they're really hiding_, I mentally chastised myself.

"Yes," answered Riley, his voice filled with grief.

_Yes? Holy shit, Swan! Okay, play it cool. No, don't play it cool! They're putting Charlie in danger!_

"Just remember that Charlie is my dad, I would do anything for him and Alice. If what you are hiding from brings any harm to either of them, they will be the least of your problems." _There that should do it..._

"Now you listen here..." Victoria started to argue.

"We won't cause any problems," finished Riley.

Victoria looked at him angrily while I looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure about that because you're sister looks like she disagrees here," I spat, sneering at Victoria.

"Like I said, yes we are in...some danger. But as you can see..." he shifted the shotgun to his other hand "...I'm more than capable of taking care of us. As for your family, we won't cause any problems. That doesn't mean we are going anywhere either. It's not our choice to be here. Can we make a truce to coexist for however long we have to be in each other's presence?" he asked, his gruff voice reminding me of a male phone sex operator... not that I called them much.

I thought it about it for a few minutes, taking time to reign in my inopportune hormones. He was right, it didn't seem as if they could just leave from the look of things. Having money, why not just get out of the country and go to Europe, or a nice fancy hotel far away from Forks? I knew I was being childish, but with the day's events, I felt like their presence was only going to complicate things further.

My emotional devil was in turmoil against my logical saint, trying to find middle ground. Sure they had money, but wasn't money traced easily? Also, they were obviously hiding in the one place in the middle of nowhere with enough space to run freely through the forest in case shit hit the fan. The way Victoria was clinging to his arm and him to the shotgun, told me they were both afraid. I couldn't kick them out... as much as I really wanted to.

"We can coexist," I conceded. "But just because you're here hiding, doesn't mean you're doing a good job at it," I added as an afterthought. All it would take was for someone to take a quick glance at them before the firestorm usually known as gossip would hit every house. Nothing spread faster than gossip in this town. . . except for herpes.

"We've been here for 2 weeks already and no one has found us yet," he argued.

"Have you guys even left the house?" I questioned, sitting down on the reclining chair closest to the lamp table with the gun hidden underneath. Just because we were coexisting didn't mean I trusted them.

"Well...no."

"I knew you had not," I replied, nodding my head. "This is a small town, meaning word spreads fast. Someone was bound to talk about you two and call me wanting to know who Charlie's new friends are." I motioned for them to take a seat on the sofa behind them. "Since we will be living under the same roof for a while I think it would be best that we get to know each other a little bit better..."

"And get a makeover," finished Alice, coming down the stairs with gauze bandages wrapped around her forearms.

"Alice, I really don't think this is the time to be doing makeovers," I admonished.

"Really, Bells? Cause they just blend in nicely with the town folk, don't they?" she asked sarcastically.

"They haven't gone out all this time, so I don't see them going out there anytime soon." I couldn't wrap my mind around this. I knew it was logical and if I was honest with myself, necessary that they a makeover. They could be recognized anywhere, if not a complete one,then at least change the way they were dressed. The problem was that it seemed she was proposing this with ulterior motives, she never did anything half-assed.

"You never know, Bells. We might need to leave the house soon, the more alert the better prepared."

"We're not getting rid of the few clothes we do have," argued Victoria, Riley agreeing with her. "We have been fine with how..."

"Things are going?" finished Alice. "Because honestly, I don't see how anyone can be fine living in these conditions." She swept her arm, indicating the mess around the living room.

"All right!" I said in fake enthusiasm as I stood up. "New plan in motion...Alice, you start by taking Riley out to bring in our things and take them to my room. Victoria, you start cleaning the living room while I work on the kitchen," I instructed.

Everyone seemed to want to start protesting so I put my hands on my hips and glared at everyone. "You guys are forgetting that this is my dad's house and as such, you are disrespecting it by leaving your shit everywhere. Alice, your bags are heavy and with your bandaged arms, it will be easier if he helps you, no fighting it. Victoria, I realize that you might have never cleaned in your life, but as of now, you are living a different one, one where you will learn how to fend for yourself, including cleaning. So everyone, up and get started."

I walked away fuming, leaving no room for argument. Who did they think they were? But God, did it feel good to take out my frustrations out on someone. Talking about frustrations, I briefly thought of Lauren and wondered how she was feeling, knowing she was one of the few who had left earlier in the day. She quickly left my mind as soon as I fully stepped inside the kitchen. It was worse than I had thought. I searched the pantry for the supplies I would need for the lasagna I was planning to make, but came up empty. There was barely anything left in there.

I grabbed some money from my wallet and stopped when I noticed the scratches on my arm. They weren't bleeding which was good, although they were starting to itch. I quickly grabbed some gauze that Alice had left for me and wrapped it around my left arm, my right one wasn't as bad. Victoria was in the living room collecting the trash and putting in it inside a large trash bag with a disgusted look on her face. I almost laughed...almost being the operative word. It truly was sad to see someone who couldn't fend for themselves. I helped her out with some of the bottles as we waited for Riley and Alice to come back down once they completed their task. I had more stuff in mind for them to do.

Riley came down the stairs dressed in Charlie's clothes looking a little disgruntled while Alice was sporting a shit-eating grin. I shook my head in amusement, bitting my lip as I tried to hide my smile. I had to give it to her though, he did fit in better. I quickly explained the food situation to them and agreed that Riley was the best choice to go to the store for supplies.

He looked green at the prospect of going out by himself. I gave him the money and steadily pushed him out the door. "Think of this as a test, Riley. I'm sure no one will even spare you more than 3 glances. Just get the stuff, load my Nessie and get back as soon as you can. In the mean time we'll finish cleaning here."

"Before you go," cut in Alice, handling him a walkie-talkie radio. "Hold on to this for communication purposes. The phones are down but these work great. I should know, they cost me a fortune when I bought them for dad on his birthday."

I couldn't believe she had found those since it had been some years ago that she had given them to him. He had seen the show Man Vs. Wild, and thus he entered a phase where he went camping deep in the wilderness to test his own skills against those of Bear Grylls. Charlie was insulted and had found them emasculating at best. Alice and I had used them to play whenever we came over.

I was brought out of my memories as I noticed Riley staring at me, or more precisely, behind me. _God, he does have pretty eyes_, I thought to myself before I grimaced. This was not the time to be noticing pretty eyes. He looked at me quickly before he finally turned and headed for my truck.

I turned to go back inside and was met by Victoria's icy glare. "If something happens to him, I will be your worst nightmare," she threatened.

Now that I stood close to her, I realized she was tall, really tall. I had to crane my neck up a little to gaze in to her weird-colored eyes. "He'll be fine," I assured her. "He's not only driving my awesome Nessie, but he has the shotgun in the backseat. If anyone should be on alert, is the town folk who stares at him the wrong way. We wouldn't want him to point the shotgun at innocent people now, would we?"

She turned on her jimmy choos and walked back grabbing the bag she had been using earlier. We continued cleaning in relative silence after that. Alice ran around trying to collect more than everyone, Victoria collecting as little as she could – a frown plastered on her face; and then there was me, still trying to find my middle ground.

The night was rapidly approaching with no sign of dad coming home soon. I made an excuse to use the restroom and closed the door tightly behind me. I didn't want to worry them more than what was necessary. I pressed the button that would allow me to contact Riley and waited. I waited more and more, with no contact from him coming through. Finally when I was about to give up, a voice crackled through static. It was barely audible, repeating the same word over and over again, sending a chill down my spine.

"Help! Help! Help!"


	6. Stranger Things Happen

**Chapter 6 – Stranger Things Happen**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to their respectable owners. No copyright infringement intended. I do not own anything.**

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. Welcome to all the new readers. This is a long chapter that includes our first taste of death. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Warning: **

**This chapter contains extreme language, character death, and gruesome scene. If you are not old enough to read, then please don't. If you are uncomfortable with death, Don't Read. **

_**Previously on Haven: **_

_**Bella and Alice suspect that Riley and Victoria are lying about who they really are but don't really press them on the issue. Alice was able to successfully give Riley a makeover. Bella gains charge of everyone and soon they all have a task. As the girls clean, Riley leaves to the store for supplies. Nighttime falls with no word from Charlie or Riley. Bella hears a message for help.**_

**BPOV:**

Have you ever been placed in a position where you had to make a decision that would either end bad, or for a lack of a better word... badder? I once again found myself in the company of the devil and the angel. Of course devil said, 'The hell with it, you don't know who it was and if it came to it, better them than us.' But the angel was promptly shouting in my ear, 'You can't just leave who ever needs help out there alone, what if it happened to Alice or Charlie? Wouldn't you want someone to help them?'

My subconscious sucked ass!

_Help! Help! Help!_ _Shit. what do I do?_

I really didn't know what to do. It wasn't that I was a cruel person that refused to help people, no... that wasn't me. The problem was that I already had 2 people missing and to just send one of us to help who ever it was that needed help, would certainly lead to a suicide mission. The voice had not belonged to Riley, of that I was sure; I think. It had been barely audible with too much static in the background to really discern his voice from any one. Two things were clear though; it was a male and he needed help.

I contemplated telling the girls of my latest discovery, but found myself standing before them unable to say anything. For starters, Victoria was sure to flip her shit once she found out about the message. She would surely say it was her brother and leave to go find him. That would be a huge mistake. She basically had a red target on her forehead, at least until she received the makeover Alice insisted she needed. Second, she didn't know her way around the town. She was too sheltered to have any kind of survival instincts.

Alice on the other hand was on some type of mission to help the girl from the rain, even when said girl was sure to kill her in the process. I was sure that as soon as she left the house, she would go looking for the girl to help her. Alice had strong survival instincts, but at the moment they were being overshadowed by her need to help the girl.

They were both obviously emotionally unstable to leave the confines of the house. I was the only one with a leveled head to be able to do anything.

I had a feeling that whatever was happening in the state of Washington was more complicated than a simple case of the flu being spread. If the the girl in the rain was any indication to go by, we were definitely dealing with something darker. I simply wasn't willing to risk anyone at the moment. I needed to go by myself. Besides, there was one more problem to the equation. . . there were no more cars for us to use.

I held tight to the walkie-talkie as I announced my presence to the girls. Alice had taken seat in front of the desk trying to get Charlie's old computer to work as Victoria simply sat stoned-faced staring at the fireplace. "Hey, uhm...I need a little bit of air so I'll just ah...go for a walk." I couldn't have sounded more stupid if I tried. Clearly the plan sounded much better in concept.

Alice lifted her perfectly shaped eyebrow as she place her hand on her hip. "You don't walk," she stated. "Ever."

_Shit_! That was true; ever since I earned my driver's license at the tender age of 16, I had not walked anywhere, even if it was to the coffee shop around the corner. At first it had been just an excuse to drive my car around town; besides, everything in this town was so scattered that no one gave it a second thought. Once I had left for Seattle, let's just say that having places near your house doesn't mean that you're exactly safe.

"Oh, well you know...Riley has the truck and Charlie is taking his time with the psycho girl and I really need to get some air before any of them get back."

"Riley should have been back by now," murmured Victoria. "Can you please call him on the radio and see how much longer he's going to be?"

_Aww, no?_ "I'm not really getting any reception in the house, that's another reason why I want to go for a walk, maybe I'll find a better signal once I'm in the clear from the bigger trees."

"We always get clear signals, Bells. What the hell is going on?" demanded Alice.

"Geesh, nothing is going on. Can't a girl go for a walk?"

"A girl, yes. . . you. . . no." She stood up from the computer desk and walk to me right until there were only a few inches between our bodies. She sneered at my face before she slowly rose on the tips of her toes. "Give me the walkie-talkie."

"No."

"I'll ask one more time," she calmly said. "You're tired, confused, stubborn, what ever you want to be called and that's alright. But right now, I see what you're trying to do and it's not going to work. You either give it to me or tell me what the hell is going on." Demanding-Alice was scary, hyper-Alice was terrifying, calm-Alice meant death was coming to you.

Before I could give her the walkie-talkie, it was snatched from from behind me. I had been so preoccupied with Alice that I had failed notice Victoria sneaking up behind me. I watched in amazement as Alice simply held her hand out to Victoria before she placed it on her hand without any fight. Were they working together against me? _What the hell?_

I looked at Victoria closely, wondering how in the hell did these two become friends just by picking up trash next to each other. She caught my gaze before a familiar smirk appeared on her rosy lips, Riley's smirk. "She scares me more," she explained.

_Yeah, she scares me too_, I shuddered.

Alice played with the sound for a bit before the sound of static could be heard on the receiver.

**Grrrrrshhhhhhhhhhhh**

"This is Snow White. Are you there Stretch, copy."

**Grrrrrrshhhhhhhhhhhh**

Amusement laced my tone. "Snow white? A little presumptuous aren't we."

"What?" she innocently asked. "She looks like me."

"Don't you mean you look like her?" Victoria asked. _Oh oh!_

Alice glared at her quick. "She is a fictional character based on someone's imagination of perfection. She doesn't exist. I do. Got it?" _Did she just growl a bit?_

Victoria held her hands up in surrender as she backed her way back in to the kitchen. I gave Alice a look that simply said to knock it off before she tried to contact Riley again. It turned out to be a waste of time. There was no way of knowing is something was wrong with him. There were simply too many variables to consider: did he run out of batteries, did he leave it in the car, did he simply find the only place in Forks that really had no signal; like I said, many variables to consider.

We had found ourselves sitting in the couches when I again volunteered my services to go look for him since I knew the area by heart. Just as they were discussing the pros and cons of waiting for Charlie, I caught the faint sound of someones' voice. Not Riley's voice, but the one that was clearly asking for help; they hadn't heard it thought, at least not yet.

"So that settles it then right? I'm going." I quickly stood and grabbed the walkie-talkie from Alice's hand and started my way to the door when the signal cleared and the scream for help came through loud and clear of any static.

"Help! Help! Help!"

Victoria ran in front of me, blocking my way out. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh... uh... earlier when I was in the bath room and I tried to call Riley, this call came through instead and I really don't know who it is, I mean it could be anybody really, and the signal was so weak so I thought maybe it had been a hoax..." I rambled my excuse.

"You mean to tell us that you knew about this for how long and you didn't tell us. We have a right to know what is going on. What if it is Riley? Are you just going to leave him behind just because he's not your precious Alice or Charlie?" Her voice had been progressively getting louder.

"No, I wasn't going to keep it from you, but look at how you're reacting. You know as well as I do that it isn't Riley. No don't give me that look," I said as she glared at me. "You know it isn't him. I was going to check it out, walk around town and see if maybe someone needed help, get Riley at the store and come back. Nothing exciting, okay?"

"You are so wrong, Bella. You had no right to keep something this big from me," whispered Alice. "Don't you think I would die if something happened to you? You're my sister, my soul mate, you're my life. Damn it, Bells! Stop trying to shield me from danger, will you?" I could see the hurt I caused by not trusting her and that made me hate myself a little more.

"You know I can't help it, Alice. Not after what happened," I whispered back.

"I can't just wait here while you two love birds to finish up your declarations!" yelled Victoria. She spun around and trotted towards the door.

I reached her before she could grab the handle and pulled her back by the elbow. "You are no going anywhere. There is no car and you don't know where to go."

"Get your hand off me."

"No."

"I said get your hand off me!" She shoved me back away from her, not so gently and rushed to the door just as I stumbled to the floor by Alice's feet.

"I wouldn't go by myself if I were yo..."

**BANG!**

The room went completely silent as the loud echo of a gun resonated through the house. Victoria turned to look back at us, her hand shaking as it held on to the door knob. "What was that?" she whispered.

**BANG!**

The three of us jumped in place as another sound of a gun went off. "Turn off the lights," I instructed. We each silently went to each room and turned off the lights, crawling back into the living room. We closed the curtains, cutting off any available light source the moon would have provided.

"Wha... what do we do? Do you think they found us? Oh God... what if they have him?" Victoria started to cry as she rambled something about someone named Edward and it being her fault they were going to die.

"We hide," advised Alice.

"What?" I asked. I could hear her name anything like: we attack, we run, we look, but to hide?

"We have to hide. I can't explain it... I just... we have to hide. Please, Bells. Just trust me, please." Her voice broke at the last word.

I nodded in resignation as I silently led them to the closet furthest from the door. I opened the door and ushered them inside, making sure they each had a flash light and a bat for security. Just as Alice handed me a bat, I rushed out the closet and closed it back with force. I knew that what I was doing was horrible but I couldn't let Alice get hurt. I didn't matter, she did.

Alice banged on the door, crying for me to open it up. Lucky for me, Charlie had changed the lock to the outside since the time I had locked myself inside when I was 3. I had been too scared to open the door, hell, too scared to even move besides cry.

"I'm sorry, Alice. So sorry. Please be quiet no matter what you hear. Please!" She didn't say anything back but I did see her slide her fingers through the crack under neath the door. I grabbed her fingers as tightly as I could before I managed to compose myself. I leaned down and kissed the tip of her finger as I finally drew myself to a crawling position.

I made my way to the window and lifted the side of the curtain with enough space for me to see with one eye. It was very dark. It wasn't raining, but there was enough fog to make up for it. It was completely silent. Yet, in the middle of the street, there were several people standing outside. No one was moving, just observing the scene before them. There was one man who was standing before the rest of the people with a shot gun pointed at shorter man who kept trying to attack him. No matter how many times he charged at him, the man with the shot gun would shove him back hard to the ground only to repeat the process again.

I crawled my way to the other side of the door, closes to the kitchen to get a better view. I opened the curtain again, only this time a little more. He was a huge man. I couldn't see his face since it was covered by a base ball cap, but he did have a huge beard on his face. He must have been over six feet tall easily with broad shoulders and muscles all over the place. He was wearing a dark flannel shirt that was barely visible through the darkness and the fog. He reminded so much of the men that came out on the show where they cut down trees; he was the very definition of a mountain man. He was a startling contrast to the little man who kept trying to attack him: big vs. small, muscles vs. lanky.

_Why is he pointing a shot gun at him, Oh God, he shot that thing twice before. What if he already killed someone. Why are those people just standing there?Where are the cops? Please don't come home Charlie!_

I pressed my cheek against the glass in vain hope to get a closer look. The glass was very cold against my cheek. The stress was making sweat like a bitch in heat. Just as I was about to look through a different window, the shrubs started to move violently with the wind's sudden shift. The man's cap blew off his head, blowing it to the direction of the people who were standing by their own homes. The small man suddenly stopped his assault on the large man only to lunge himself at the people who were only just observing.

The quiet night had suddenly turned loud with the screams of the people who were being attacked, the growling noise coming from the small man, and the shot gun being fired by the mountain man. I couldn't look away. It was so disgusting, yet so... fuck I was too curious. The small man had attacked a woman by planting his face somewhere on her face. Her husband tried to remove the man, but he was unable to. The mountain man kept shooting the small man, and yet nothing seemed to hurt him or kill him. After some time the small man threw himself at the lady's husband in what seemed like a lover's embrace, if it hadn't been for the blood splattering all over the place. Mountain man finally shot the small man on the head, making the skull explode all over the place. Blood and chunks flew everywhere bathing everyone within reach. I had not seen the little girl that had been standing by the women's body, but I did notice her when mountain man shot her down.

I closed the curtain just as I saw him turn around. My breaths were coming out in gasps. I couldn't get a fucking breath in properly.

_He shot her. . . him. . . her. He shot the little girl. Oh fucking shit! He shot the little girl. Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

My vision had become accustomed to the darkness by by this point, but with my urgent need for oxygen, it seemed as if my vision was being invaded my small little black dots. I couldn't pass out now, not when Alice was stuck inside the closet. We had to get out of here. Away from this town.

A couple of seconds had passed, maybe minutes, I didn't know. All I knew was that I had to take another look. With shaky hands, I gently lifted the curtain enough for one eye to see outside. It was completely empty. I could barely see the silhouettes of bodies on the floor, none of them were moving. What scared me more than those bodies on the floor, was the fact that I couldn't see the one body that had placed them there; I couldn't see mountain man. I stood up to get a better view and even strained my neck to see the sides of the houses at the end of the street. I couldn't see anyone.

I decided to let the girls out and tell them right away what I had just witnessed. I couldn't' get the images out of my head, every time I fucking blinked I could see him shooting them, shooting her. I closed the curtain and turned my back to the window. I had taken maybe a step or two when a movement on my left caused my steps to falter. The kitchen door that led to the back yard had a small window without any curtains. There was some light from the moon entering through the small window. I could see a shadow moving from under neath the door as it approached it. I waited on baited breath for who ever it was to finally reach the door, hoping it would be either Charlie or Riley. Finally, after what seemed like years I could see the shadow of a man looking in, a man so big that he had to lean down to look through the window, a man who I had just seen shoot down a bunch of people including a little girl, a man who was now looking directly at me.

I screamed.


	7. Mountain Man

**Chapter 7- The Mountain Man **

**A/N: Welcome new readers. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to either favorite, alert the story. Special Edwardian thank yous to those of you who have reviewed. If I didn't respond back to your review I am sorry, life is difficult when you have 4 bored kids at home. Anyway, on with the story.**

**Warning**

**This chapter contains crude language and some violence.**

* * *

**Previously on Haven:**

**Bella decides to look for Riley and figure out who left the signal for help but gets caught in her lies. The girls have a discussion and finally concede that Bella should go look for them. The girls hear the distress call and hear gun shots coming from the streets. Bella makes them hide in the closet and witnesses a huge man kill a family of three. The man finds her. **

**BPOV:**

I had always hated watching scary movies, not because of the unoriginal plot or too-good looking characters. I hated watching them because of the stupid choices made by the too-good looking characters. For example: There was no point in screaming because you'll only alert anyone to your hiding position. When they're running away from an axe murderer and finally decided to hide in the closet, the least they could have done was to keep the panting to a minimum. Seriously, how loud do you have to pant to get the point across? We all knew you were afraid. It would also have been important to stop looking behind you every couple of seconds as they ran; chances are he was still right behind them, plus, they always had the chance of stumbling. It had always been these decisions that the characters made that pissed me off making me say, 'I would of done this or I would of done that instead, stupid people.'

I came to realize that they may not have been too stupid after all.

As I witnessed the mountain man kill the family, the adrenaline surged through my body so strong and fast making my body hum in anticipation, that I wondered if this was how Alice felt every single time she stepped through the Mall's door. I didn't like feeling like this, so out of control like if I had just consumed 3 cups of coffee one after the other. _What the hell does she do with this energy?_

Adrenaline didn't make me react the way rational Bella would. Rational Bella would have immediately crawled her way back to the closet with her sister and Victoria and made sure that none of them made a single peep until at least day break. Rational Bella would have made sure to at least have one of Charlie's guns with her and held down the fort to shoot the perpetrator as soon as he came in to view. Instead of being graced with rational Bella, I was left with stupid, adrenaline-filled irrational Bella. Stupid Bella screamed. If the mountain man didn't know anyone was home, then he knew now for sure.

It's amazing what fear can make a person do. The fear made me scream like a girl, well... how the stupid movie girls scream... girly high-pitched. Worst of all, I closed my eyes as I screamed like a petulant child that didn't get their way. This was really such an inopportune time for my angel and devil to appear. While the angel whispered in my ear that it was alright to scream and be afraid, the devil was definitely kicking my ear telling me to woman the fuck up and go kick some ass. But then, I peed a little when a hand was clamped over my mouth to shut me up. I opened my mouth ready to sacrifice my first newborn for exchange of my life when I realized that it was Alice's hand that was on my face.

That was not one of my best moments.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" she hissed.

I blinked back the tears from my eyes to clear my vision as I took a few calming breaths through my nose. How the hell did she get out of there? "Ow da ell id u et at of ther?" I mumbled through her hand.

She scrunched up her face in confusion. I noticed Victoria kneeling down next to me as she looked out the window. "What did she say?" Alice looked at Victoria as if she could decipher my strange new language. Victoria shrugged back as she closed the curtain back.

I looked down at her hand on my face making my eyes momentarily cross. Instead of removing her hand from my face she mimicked my expression by crossing her eyes. She giggled thinking it was funny. "This is fun."

I looked down again, motioning for her to remove her hand but she just kept mimicking me. I would have removed her hands, but the adrenaline was still coursing through my body making me shake like Alice on Christmas Day. Having had enough, I filled my mouth with saliva and licked the palm of her hand making sure I left a heavy trail behind. She immediately removed her hand from my mouth leaving a long strand of saliva that connected her hand with my mouth. I was so disgusted as I felt the band expand the further she moved her hand away. I swiped the saliva strand with my shaky hand.

"Ewwwwww! What the hell, Bells?" She kept wiping her hand clean on the carpet.

Her hand had left a salty, tangy taste in my mouth. I grimaced as the taste only increased with the seconds. "I said, how the hell did you get out of there?"

Instead of answering she took out a small key from her pocket and dangled it in front of my face. I looked at it confused because there were only two keys to that door and both of them were safely hidden. "Charlie gave me one. Even though you're all grown up, he still feels that your going to one day lock yourself in there by accident. Pretty neat, huh?"

"No it's not neat. Even my own father has no faith in me," I angrily muttered. I faintly noticed Victoria taking a seat next to me. "Your hand is dirty, it's too salty."

"Of course it is," she said in nonchalance. "I had to scratch my ass with something. Do you know how hot it was in there? I swear the I could feel the sweat start to trickle between the cheeks.."

My grimaced quickly turned in that of horror and shock as that comment only increased the taste in my mouth. Victoria and Alice soon fell on their sides as they laughed at my expense. "She's kidding you know," gasped Victoria.

"Is she?" I questioned her in disbelief. "I wouldn't put it past her to do it."

"It was dark in there but I'm sure she didn't do it. Come on, who does that?"

"Alice does that." There was no need to tell her of all the nasty things Alice used to do when she was little. One memory did stand out more than the others though. We were about 8 years old and she had just came back from visiting her family in Biloxi. She just walked up to me and held her fingers literally up my nose and said, 'smell this.' Of course like a naïve little girl I was, I went ahead and did it without questioning why she even had her fingers up my nose. It smelled pretty nasty, reminding me of the special dirt my mom would use when she would plant. 'What is that smell?' I questioned her, but the only response she gave was enough, 'my butt.' Apparently she had spent time with male cousins. I shuddered at the memory thinking I wouldn't put it past her to do that now just to gross me out.

"So why did you scream anyways? Did you find out where the shot came from?" Victoria's questions brought my back to reality.

It seemed as if I couldn't stop making mistake after mistake. Stupid Bella made another crucial mistake, only this was one of the mistakes that got someone killed: get distracted. There was never such a thing as safety, at least not until you were holding the axe murderer's head in your hands. My face paled as I quickly told them the sordid story I had just witnessed.

"So, wait a minute...a girl, like a little girl, little, little girl?" questioned a teary-eyed Victoria.

"What other form of little girl is there?" I sarcastically asked.

She sat back and lowered her eyes to the floor. I looked at Alice, asking her with my eyes if she was okay. Children were a sore subject to her, but any type of abuse, mistreatment or even a spanking to a child would usually incapacitate her through depression. Instead of seeing the blank look on her face I was accustomed to I saw anger and determination.

"I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch. I'm gonna castrate him and make him eat his balls for dinner!"

I looked at her scared; I had never seen her have this reaction before. Let me tell you, it was pretty fucking frightening. What surprised me more was Victoria's declaration to help. I would of never guessed that little miss prim and proper could do any damage. "You cut them, I feed them to him."

They looked back at me expectantly, waiting for me to declare my commitment to chop off a body part. "I...I do...I don't know if I can kill someone, girls. I mean... if...if he was right in front of me threatening one of you, I would do something, but having to hunt him down only to kill him, I don't know if I can do that."

Victoria rose to her feet, looking like an angry goddess ready to strike me for even thinking that she looked pretty instead of beautiful. "So, what? You're just going to sit on your behind and scream like a frightened little girl while he goes out there and shoots kids randomly!"

"I... well... no. Okay, I'll go. But we're not just going to out to look for him."

They looked at me back ready to argue but I stopped them before they could interrupt.

"Look, he obviously knows that I'm here." I rolled my eyes as I remembered my screaming girl stupidity. "But... he doesn't know that you two are here. So we'll make him come to us. It's too dangerous to go outside because it's too big, too much forest he could be hiding in. We have the advantage of knowing the inside of the house."

Alice smirked evilly. "I like how you think, Swan. I like how you think." She tapped her fingers on her chin as she twirled around the living room taking account of all the details.

"How the hell are we going to lure him in?" questioned Victoria.

"In the meantime, Vicky, go look through all the windows until you find him. Let us know of his location," I instructed.

She was about to object but Alice shut her up with a sharp lift of her eye brow.

"Alice, honey," I drawled. "Go upstairs and bring down your taser, a bat and a gun down with you." She saluted me and ran upstairs to gather our weapons.

I stood still as I ran a plan through my head. What we were about to do was so dangerous, so... out of the box, I could only hope that none of us would get hurt. In the back of my mind, Charlie and Riley were not forgotten. Once we took care of the mountain man, we would have to do some reconnaissance and look for our boys.

"I found him," whispered-yelled Victoria. "He's pacing back and forth by the tree line." She was crouching next to the window that faced our back yard, closest to the kitchen. I felt – more than heard – Alice walk down the stairs holding everything I had requested.

Once every one was told the plan, the girls set out to hide in their positions. I walked stealthily to the lamp that was located next to the windows and turned it on. Victoria was keeping watch and nodded her head, signaling that we had caught his attention. I turned of the light and made my way to the kitchen. Victoria and Alice hid deeper in the shadows as I once again turned on the light, this time inside the kitchen. Victoria nodded again, wiggling her pointing and middle finger, indicating that he was taking the bait. I turned off the light and went in to my hiding position.

His large feet could be heard as they hit the back porch. He hesitated for a couple of seconds before coming to a full stop by the front door. The door knob jiggled for a second before stopping altogether. I faintly heard Alice and Victoria slightly gasp, knowing that there was only one door between us and the mountain man.

"Come in," I yelled, my voice sounding shaky. I mentally berated myself, _No need to sound weak, Bella. _

Alice came out of her hiding spot as soon as the door swung open. Once she had him in her sight, she shot the taser gun, hitting him square in the chest. He fell down to his knees with a loud groan. As soon as the gun stopped shocking him, I hit him in the back with the bat until he went face down to the floor. Victoria came out from behind the door and began stomping him with her heeled boot on his ass. She had decided to forgo the gun in place of her boots.

"You son of whore! How does it feel to get hurt by women? Bet you didn't see us coming, just like that little girl, did you!"

The mountain man had to hope against us three. Alice kept tassering him until it ran out it's course, choosing to climb on his back, only to grab his hair and slam his head on the floor. Having taken my target, I switched to hitting him on the legs instead. Between getting his head slammed repeatedly down the floor, getting kicked everywhere available, and getting hit with a bat on his legs, we had not noticed that he stopped moving until the light in the kitchen was suddenly turned on, catching us by surprise.

"What the hell is going on in here?" yelled Charlie.

We all stopped moving at the same time. We must have looked interesting to any observer: Victoria had her heel stuck deep in his butt, Alice had a good grip on his head ready to slam it down, and then me, holding the bat up in mid-swing.

"Dad! You're okay!" I dropped the bat as I ran in to Charlie's arms.

Charlie staggered back as Victoria and Alice soon joined in on the hug. We all started talking at the same time, me with the story from the little girl, Alice with her story of hiding in the closet and then Victoria going on about how we had lured him in. Charlie being the fucking good cop he is was able to understand our babbles perfectly.

"So... that's him?" He pointed at the heap on the floor.

We all nodded and backed away as Charlie drew his gun out. I took out my gun too, just to be safe, earning a glare from Charlie. I kept my gun pointed at the mountain man as Charlie approached him carefully. He stopped a few feet away as the mountain man groan, turning his face to the side away from us.

Charlie finally reached his side and checked him for any possible weapons, claiming that he was clean. He took out his handcuffs, securing them his arms tight behind his back. He checked his face next, coming to an abrupt stop. "Er...Bells?"

His hesitant tone caught my attention away from the bickering going on between Alice and Victoria. Victoria was hell bent on going out to look for Riley now that we had a car available while Alice was adamant to wait for me since I knew how to use a gun.

"Yeah, Dad?" I answered, curiosity prominent in my tone.

His face had gone from shock to one of amusement. Instead of answering me, he decided to show me instead by turning the man's face in my direction, a habit Alice had picked up from him. A loud collective gasp rang in the air as I took in the mangled-bloody face of the mountain man.

"J... Jacob?"

"Bella," he whispered before going limp in Charlie's hands.


	8. Confessions

**Chapter 8- Confessions**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, settings and places belong to their respective owners. I do not own Twilight. No copyright infringement intended. I do not own anything.**

**A/N: Thank you for all the support you guys have given this story. While you guys wait for my next chapter, I recommend you guys read 'Twilight War Z' from enterprisealien. It has short chapters but it has zombies. If you guys have accounts in Twilighted and The writer's coffee shop, I can give you recommendations for those websites too. One last thing: I would love to include YOU the reader in this story as much as possible. Any ideas you guys give me, any characters you would like to see, or any special scene you would like played out, go a head and let me know and I'll include it somewhere along the story. Thanks.**

**Warning: This chapter contains mild violence and crude language. **

* * *

**Previously on Haven:**

**The girls came up with a plan to lure in the mountain man. The plan worked, only to find themselves face to face with Jacob. Charlie returned home and Riley is still missing. **

**APOV:**

**April 2009**

As it turned out, Riley had gotten lost on the way to the store. How can someone get lost on the only main road the town had? How do you not find the only supermarket? Men were so clueless sometimes that it baffled me how they could pee standing while aiming at the small opening at the same time. Oh! That's right, they sometimes missed.

Once everyone had gotten in settled, Charlie had gone out to check on the injured neighbors while Bella stayed glued to the window, watching his every step. It was late and everyone was hungry. I didn't trust Bella to cook with the way her body was shaking, so I took upon myself to be the responsible one. My cooking skills stopped at boiling water, but as I gave the kitchen a second glance I thought, _how hard can it be?_ I had seen Bella cook many times before, mixing several ingredients that created mouthwatering aromas. I knew that making dad's lasagna was out of the question since it sounded complex, having all those layers didn't make it sound easy either. I decided to look through the bags Riley had brought from the store and figure something out along the way.

I found a packet of noodles and a can of cream of broccoli. _Shit, no tomato sauce, there's tomatoes but no sauce so that means no spaghetti. Okay, okay, think... … … … … combine them? Cream of broccoli tastes like broccoli right? Just a bit more... creamy. _I sighed._ It'll be like pasta with broccoli trees from Olive Garden._ I prepared a deep pan with water and placed the noodles inside once the water was boiling. I stood by the stove and watched as the noodles slowly started to look edible. _Do I have to stir this?_ _Lets see... huh... I guess I do._ The noodles started to separate from each other. I eyed the can of cream of broccoli and considered how I was going to use this with the noodles exactly. This process of combining things was looking more iffy as the minutes passed. Finally giving up, I waited until enough of the noodle water evaporated before finally dumping the contents from the can inside the pot.

Deciding that the noodles would not be enough, I then looked inside the fridge for at least a bag of salad when I suddenly found some leftover chicken instead. It didn't smell bad and it wasn't green so I shredded the good white parts off it and dumped it inside the pasta. I didn't like the dark meat so I threw that, along with the rest of the bird, away. I turned the dial so that the flame would go up to maximum; I wanted to make sure that the chicken cooked well, hoping that any bacteria would be killed by the heat. Once everything bubbled up, I turned off the flame and stood back feeling proud at my accomplishment; It didn't smell burned. _This cooking business isn't so hard after all. _

Bella had not yet moved from her spot behind the window. I tried to coax her away from it but she wouldn't budge. Charlie had taken precautions and placed Jake on a rocking chair away from everyone else. His hands were handcuffed to the each arms rest. I had taken it upon myself to tie each of his legs to each side in a way where even his long legs still didn't touch the ground; I had plans for him later. His head was hanging forward as he still sat unconscious from our beating.

Victoria and Riley had taken the love seat where she was currently telling him about how brave she was and how she had tracked him down to the back yard where she finally lured him to us. The bitch was lying. I wanted to slap her across the face and tell Stretch how she was too afraid to use a gun so she used her boots instead, but the way that Riley sat there smiling so proud of her, had me holding back. I didn't think that Victoria stood up for herself much, so I let her have this small victory; but there wouldn't be another.

I made my way to Jake and grabbed a bunch of his hair in a tight fist; I shook his head a little – enough to make sure he was conscious – then pushed his head back hard. I waited with a satisfied smirk for the sound that the back of his head made as it collided with the wall. It was beautiful. "Wakey, wakey... food is ready," I sang in sweet voice.

I then instructed a startled Riley and a smiling Victoria to set up the the food and drinks in the living room. I wanted to keep Jake and Bella on my line of sight.

It wasn't long before dad returned looking confused and... scared? That was never an emotion that he ever showed so whatever he had seen must have been really bad. He masked his expression before anyone else could catch it. We all sat around the coffee table and waited for dad to finish closing down the house down for the night. I went ahead and unlocked Jake's right hand so he would be able to eat. I wasn't half as bad as people thought... and dogs had to eat, didn't they?

I waited anxiously, bouncing my butt on the floor, for everyone to take a bite out of their food before I tasted it myself. Once I did, I must say, it tasted like shit. There was an overwhelming taste of broccoli, canceling any other flavor out. I didn't even want to think about the after taste the chicken left behind. I waited for someone to say something regarding the taste, but everyone stayed quiet while they continued to eat.

"This is so good, Alice," complimented dad, swallowing hard.

Iwhipped my head in his direction. _Huh?_

"Yes, Alice. This is good, thank you," murmured Victoria.

I continued to received praise from Riley and an awkward one from Jake. I was confused because the food was disgusting and yet everyone continued to eat it as if Bella had cooked. That was... until she suddenly stopped eating before turning to look at me in alarm. "Did you wash your hands?"

Victoria snorted in amusement as everyone looked at her in question. I considered my options as I dragged in the silence. _Come clean or continue the game. What to do? What to do? Decisions... decisions... No, I can't come clean now, it's been too long since... _"Ow!"I yelped in pain. She had gotten impatient and slapped her hand on my thigh. I rubbed the sting out as I glared at my so-called-sister. "Yes, I washed my hands. What am I, a man?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder," she muttered.

"Me too," chimed in Jacob.

Before anyone else decided to question my gender, I swung my foot out hitting the bottom of the rocking chair. The momentum caused an unaware Jake to be rocked backwards, making him hit his head against the wall again. He groaned in pain as I glared at everyone, daring them to make a comment.

The rest of dinner went off without a hitch as everyone finished the food, including me. Once the table had been cleared and the dishes had been washed, we all sat down on any seat available and waited for the pink elephant to prance its way to the middle.

"I want answers," Bella demanded. "I want to know why you killed that little girl! I want to know why you are here!"

He took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. "Bella, I don't think you want to know... Ow!"

I had kicked the chair again, making his head collide against the wall. He turned his icy eyes in my direction but before he could say something stupid, I took out my taser gun and swayed it in front of me in demonstration. He gulped audibly as he eyed my finger on the trigger before slumping down in defeat, his eyes never leaving my finger.

"If I'm gonna do this, then I have to start from the beginning. Don't interrupt... just... let me get it out," he pleaded.

"Alice, honey. Please give me the taser."

"Bu... but..." I stuttered as I looked at dad's... no, Charlie's expectant hand. With a heavy heart, I exhaled as I relinquished my control over Suzy. _Well, what the hell am I suppose to use now?_

"Get on with it already. I want to know what is going on." Bella's serious face left no more room for arguments as we all settled in to hear Jake's bullshit story.

"Okay... um... where to start? Okay... Once upon a time, a long time ago..."

_Oh, for fuck's sake!_ I kicked the chair hard, making him not only hit his head once, but twice as he re-bounced back. I laughed in delighted surprise.

"Fuck! Move, Alice!" screamed Bella, pointing her finger towards her now vacant seat next to da... Charlie.

_Noooooooooooooo! _

"Now!"

_Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!_ I mentally growled as I stomped my way next to Charlie. _At least I'm close to Suzy. _I settled more comfortably as he placed an arm over my shoulders in comfort. I sighed, at least dad was comfortable.

* * *

**BPOV:**

"Start, Jacob... and for your sake, I suggest you get to the point. I don't know how much longer my dad can hold on to Alice over there." I nodded over to my dad who I knew had placed his arm over her shoulder to restrain her. I heard Alice huff in exasperation, making not only my anger flare for Jake, but for her too. Today she had caused so many problems that I frankly didn't know how much more of her shit I could take before I locked her up myself. Not that it worked the first time.

"You know how my job before the book thing was to be a mechanic? Well, let's just say that it didn't necessarily pay good. My dad was getting on my case about quitting the shop, how I should go to school so I could get a better paying job. Everything always came back to money; money, money. Life at home was hell, and not being able to move out of his house because I didn't have money, well let's just say it only proved his point.

Then, my sisters came home for one of their yearly visits. This visit was different because one of them brought back her fiancee. Everything was fine until... my dad started telling the stories. He always believed in passing down our tribe's history by telling stories during the barbecue. We heard these stories so many times that we usually zone out the old man. But Paul had never heard these stories before and he got hooked. He encouraged my dad to write these stories down, that they were good enough to be made in to movies or books, yada yada yada.

My dad became excited about it and wanted me to write them down. I didn't want to. As much as I knew these stories by heart, I wasn't stupid enough to believe that people would want to read about a tribe's pride and shit. Rebecca then told my dad to turn the legends in to a romance story. The family got together and came up with a story over night. My ideas sucked, so I was told to do research about locations, people, and what ever they came up with for me to research, and so... yeah..."

_Wait! Does that mean...?_ "Jacob?" I interrupted. "You were the one that wrote the books, right? Please tell me it was you who wrote them." If he wasn't the one who wrote them then it would explain so much. Why he was never interested to talk directly about it. Why we always discussed them via e-mails, and then when we became friends, he always avoided talking about them. Not only that, I put so much effort in to that series, so much time, and not to mention that I had to fight for it to get published.

He looked down sheepishly before he shook his head. I was so outraged, so fucking humiliated that I stood up and backhanded him across the face. His face swung to the left, showcasing a new bruise on his cheek. Satisfied at finally having caused some damage, I sat back down before I would be tempted to hurt him some more.

"I deserve that, I'm sorry. I didn't want to be part of it, you have to believe me. My dad was embarrassed to have his name on a romance novel. He had a reputation to uphold in the reservation and I didn't so... this was my way... by letting him use my name as the author... it was my way to finally do something good in his eyes. So he wrote the book with the help from my sisters, encouragement from Paul and my research as well as my name. I never thought it would be accepted, you know. I thought, 'okay, we'll send it it and it'll get rejected, it's cool.' But then your assistant Lauren called saying you wanted to meet with me.

I thought maybe it was a mistake and then I decided I was going to stand you up. But my dad saw the letter from your publisher company and I couldn't back out anymore. I met you and it became real. All the e-mails that you wrote were answered by dad. When we met in person, I wanted to keep my input to a minimum, only giving you enough so you wouldn't suspect anything. Fuck! Look there is something else and I'm just not sure how to say this... Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

He stayed silent for a couple of minutes, a different myriad of emotions coming through. Everyone stayed silent, not sure what to say, or to even interrupt the cluster fuck taking place. After he had said all that, I wondered, _What else can be more difficult to say? How can there be more?_

"I'm gay," he blurted out.

I choked on my saliva as gasps rang all around the room. I patted my chest, trying to understand what I just heard. "Wait! What? What did you just say? Why did you put me through hell these last two years!"

"I knew it! HA!" yelled Alice, pointing a manicured nail at Jacob. I doubted she really knew anything at this point.

"Let me explain. Shit! I didn't want to say it like that but then, is there a better way to say something like that? I don't know... I never acted on it, okay? I've always been attracted to dudes, and can you understand how my dad would have acted? Our relationship was bad already; if he found out that I was thinking about sausage instead of tacos he would have disowned me!"

I sat back on my reclining chair with my mouth hanging open, waiting for him to continue.

"After I met you, I started feeling attracted to you. It wasn't right away... it took a long time actually. You were the first girl to ever interest me in** that **way. I didn't know how, but I sure as hell wanted to know why. So I became your friend, I'll admit that at first it was only to find out stuff about you, but then the more I got to know you, that more I **wanted** to know you. When you didn't want to be with me in that way, it just... it reminded me of being a failure, that I couldn't get a girl to like me back.

The money from the books gave me the chance to buy you gifts. When that didn't work, I thought that if I put you your name in the book, it would finally win you over; that obviously didn't work. Then I thought came to me. You're a smart girl, heck you read all the time, so what better way than to write my own book... I mean, really write my own book. I didn't want to do shape shifters since that was my dad's thing... heck, I wanted my own thing. Vampires were out of the question, so the next best thing was zombies. That didn't go well. I couldn't think of anything else so I... I... followed you, I even went inside your house once whe..."

"YOU WHAT!" My voice was overshadowed by Alice, and even worst, Charlie.

Next thing I knew Jacob's body was in total spasm mode as the taser gun worked it's magic. I was about to scold Alice only to find my dad holding on to the gun; at this point, I couldn't find it in me to argue. Once the gun stopped the shocks, did anyone notice that Jacob had passed out.

"Well..." drawled Victoria. "That still doesn't explain why he killed the family.

"I agree," chimed in Riley. "From what Vicky told me that you saw earlier, Bella, it seemed as if he not only killed the family at point blank, but that he also didn't even seem to hesitate in doing so."

"No, he didn't. But the thing is... I'm not sure it was really him that did it... no, no, hear me out," I rushed out as I saw more than one incredulous look. "Jacob is a lot of things..."

"A liar, cheater, stalker, giant, asshole, manipulative, abusive, d..."

"We get it, Alice. We really do. What I'm trying to say is that – and you know this is the truth, Alice – is that he is all those things, but he would never... ever.. hurt a little girl."

Victoria stood up with an angry scowl on her face, her hair a flaming halo around her. "How can you be so sure of that, because not five minutes ago did you know that he was inside your house. So how can you be so sure that he didn't shoot that little girl."

"Because I did it. I shot that little girl," confessed a male voice coming from the doors.

I stood up quickly, my hand automatically going for the gun hidden underneath the side table. The man that was standing in the open door way was huge; bigger than Jacob's 6'5 huge. He was holding the same shot gun he had used on that family. His clothes were dishevel, dirty from being exposed to the elements for a long time. His jeans and boots were covered in splatters of blood. His face wasn't really visible since he was still wearing a baseball hat, but his beard hung long down his chin.

I felt bile rise in my throat as I thought about whose blood was splattered on him. No one moved, too scared to do anything, much less react. After what seemed like an eternity and realized that Alice had somehow sat next to me on the small recliner, did I really notice everyone's reactions: Jacob had waken up sometime but not said anything, yet he looked at the mountain man as if he knew who he was. Charlie had taken a step back – something that no man with any type of authority privilege would have done – especially himself. But what surprised me the most was the Victoria's reaction. While Riley took his seat back on the love seat with no care in the world for the murderer, Victoria had taken a few steps towards him, with the most fucking blissful expression I had ever seen on any person; having witnessed how Alice gets during shopping, that was saying something.

"You... you... shot them. You bastard! You shot that little girl!" I screamed, having gained back my senses.

"Yes, I did. But right now... we have a big problem and trust me, Sugar, it's not me."


	9. The Major And His Chief

**Chapter 9- The Major And His Chief**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places and settings are properties of their respectable owners. No copyright infringement intended. I don't own anything. **

**A/N: Thank you for all the support and reviews. Welcome new readers. I found a story that resembles the same path I was going to take for this story, so I had to go back to the drawing board of ideas and shift everything... again. Although the stories were quite the same, there still are some differences but I couldn't continue in good conscience. Check her story out ( Life in the AZ by: Talipatra ). I came to the conclusion that if zombies were real, I would do everything the same way, I guess when your choices are limited, anything goes... right? Plus... great minds think alike. Here are some answers and new characters to make up for the delay. Review and let me know what you think. Thanks!**

* * *

**CPOV: **

** January 2009**

"Bring the next batch in," I demanded over the inter come.

I was tired, deadly tired. My feet dragged everywhere I stepped, my clothes had seen better days, hell, I didn't even remember when my last shower was. That still didn't matter because the work that I was doing was more important than a couple of hours of sleep, or even feeling fresh.

I took off my shoes, throwing them under my desk. The latest test results were not what I, or my employer for that matter, expected; nothing in this situation was expected. I took a deep breath and held it for in immeasurable amount of time, wondering if it wasn't better to just hold it indefinitely. Nothing was holding me down to this life anymore. What good was it to live when my whole family was dead.

_My family_, I sighed. As much as I tried to not think of them, the more the effort became futile. It's not that I didn't want to think about them, because I sure as hell didn't want to forget. It just hurt so much that I found myself loosing focus, and that was not something I could afford to loose. I didn't want to forget that they were the reason why I was doing this.

I had always been an accomplished person, even since I was a kid; a genius some called me. All I knew was that when I grew up, I would cure people; it didn't matter from what, just that they were cured. I was taking college courses by the time I was fourteen, and graduated college by the age of seventeen. Once I started medicine school, I came to realize that I couldn't necessarily stomach some of the procedures, specifically the handling of open wounds. When I entered my pediatric rounds, it became worst. It was one thing to read about doing it than performing the act itself. I decided to invest my time in research. I soon became employed by the CDC where I found my next love.

It had been a fast romance. We both knew what we wanted and had no problems avoiding the whole courtship. We were married within two months of meeting each other. Soon my baby Adam was born; he was the best reward that I had ever received. My marriage on the other hand, started to suffer with the weight of working long hours and maintaining a home. We weren't perfect by any means, but we did make it work. Fast forward four years... and my world collapsed.

I had been putting long hours in to work, gathering data on the newly notified cases of the flu. A few cases had been reported, as it was mandatory to report deaths from such diseases. My job was to gather all the reports and study them, determine if these cases needed any further investigation, and come up with a plan of action. There had only been two cases reported in the USA with five other cases reported over seas; it didn't require our attention.

That... had been a mistake.

The cases soon started coming faster than any of us could keep track of them. It had gotten to such an alarm, that the President had been notified personally by our top scientist. The last thing he wanted was to cause any type chaos among the people, and so we were ordered to work diligently on finding the cause and cure, but maintain quiet.

By the time we figured that the flu virus had mutated in to a stronger strand that genetically altered the human gene, it had been too late... there was no such cure. Too late for my Adam.

He started with the normal flu symptoms: cough, cold, high fevers, chills, body aches... normal stuff that had been present when the initial virus had first emerged in the early 1900's known then as the Spanish Influenza. But then, new symptoms emerged. His skin started to take in a chalky, yellow color, worrying me that his liver was failing; his organs had started to shut down. He also started to cough blood or sometimes some other liquid that at first glance anyone would have mistaken for mucus, until it also changed in to a heavy, translucent gray color. At first no one thought much of it, until a janitor with an open cut touched it and soon became ill at such a fast pace that we had to start the quarantines within our own facilities. What ever the substance was, it screamed one thing... danger.

Adam was entered in to one of our special clinics for a closer look. We had hoped that any type of antibiotic would hinder the progress or even the fast pace it progressed; nothing worked to even offer any type of hope.

Within four days of contracting the virus – known also as the N1H1 virus – I sat by his bedside and watched as he took his last labored breath as I held on to his hand, hoping it would keep him close to me. It broke my heart and soul to watch him suffer and know that nothing I could or have done, would have given him any comfort. In the sorrows of my mind, I was glad that he was gone... that he wasn't suffering anymore... that he was... dead.

I sat there and did nothing, nothing but pray that he was at peace as I held on to his little three year old hand. Heavy sobs wrecked my body as my peers and my Love tried to comfort me.

It was after an immeasurable amount of time that I started to think I was crazy. I swore I felt his hand move. I stood up and shook him awake, thinking that I had made a mistake and declared him dead when all this time he had still been alive, only to be so sadly mistaken. He awoke... but he was different.

He sat up and opened his eyes – which once had been a beautiful blue color – to a disturbing red. I took an automatic step back, not knowing why I would when not even two minutes ago I had been praying for this type of miracle. I couldn't have described the automatic fear that rushed through my spine at seeing his eyes, almost as if instinct was telling me that my own son was dangerous.

My Love didn't have that instinct as I realized that they were soon embracing. I couldn't make my feet move forward was I watched the scene unfold. My baby Adam, who had never been a violent child even during the terrible two's, started to attack my love as if it was an animal. The guards stepped in by pushing Adam away, but it already had been too late; My Love had been bitten on the neck, the would so fatal... so open... so gashing. The medics attended to my Love's injuries the best they could, only to declare the death a few minutes later.

Adam had a blank look in his eyes as they roamed the room. No one dared approached him, all scared of his reaction. His head kept tilting in to the direction where the body laid still gushing. As I took a step towards him, he turned his attention back to me and springed his little body forwards only to come crashing down on a security guard who had stepped before me. Adam was taken into a containment chamber for observation while I sat on the floor filled with horror. My whole family had died in the span of minutes or perhaps hours, it didn't matter, the end result had been the same.

I wanted my baby to live, but not like that... like a scared animal. I wanted to know what happened, not as a parent or a spouse in mourning, but as a doctor because I was making it my mission to help my baby. The top personnel and I reviewed the tapes that had been rewinded to three hours prior. I watched as he died again, this time knowing for certain that whatever was causing Adam to even be alive had to be beyond a simple explanation. And then I watched in horror the way he became animated again, the way he not only attacked me but also my Love.

Two hours exactly after the incident, we watched in morbid fascination as my Love came back from death. Zombies they were called, what other word was there to describe what they had become? They had been put to death after they realized that there was no way to study them without anyone risking their own lives, at least until a better method was found. Watching them die a second time had been easier... they weren't human anymore.

"Chief? Chief!" yelled my second in command, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I shook my head to dispel any and all type of memories, what had once happened didn't matter anymore; all that did matter now was to find a way to help those who still had hope. I had been recruited by the President himself for a special research group to better understand this new phenomenon and to hopefully develop a cure... if not, at the very least find a better way to prepare for the inevitable. How the President and those around them could still be naïve and blase about the problem was baffling to me, and quite frankly... stupid.

I pressed the inter come to respond. "Yes, Major?"

"Sir? They brought a new batch, whenever you're ready."

"And where is this batch from?" I hesitantly asked as I ran a hand through my long locks.

"Michigan State Penitentiary, Sir." _Good, no civilians this time._

"How many?"

"Aah... four. Sir... do you want me to prepare them now or when you come in, Sir?"

"I'll be down in two. Be ready by then." I turned off the inter come, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do.

All the people that had been infected during my stay at the CDC had been disposed of, except for one they kept to study from. The President didn't want anyone to know about us, so it was hard getting test subjects. We had to resort to prisons to handle over all inmates that had been on death roll with no families since there wouldn't be a body to claim for burial. Sometimes we used civilians that were usually related to those in government.

The subjects – as they were referred to once they stepped through our doors – were either let loose in a room with an infected subject, or were directly injected with the mutated virus itself. Either way, it was the same thing every single time. The point was to learn how they reacted, their moves, if the virus was still mutating to give them an advantage. Those being injected were also being studied for the same things.

I walked through the long corridors that lead to the basement, hearing all the cries and growls that had become second nature to me. I finally reached the designated room and swiped my ID card in the side panel for admittance. The bullet proof doors opened automatically allowing me immediate entrance.

Sitting before me were four inmates, three males and one female. My second in command – also known as Major since no one used our real names – had a gun pointed at them for control. Cadet walked to the first and asked what his crime had been only to repeat the process to the other three; we had two serial killers, one rapist, and child molester. Room A had a an active subject inside already while Room B was ready with the injections as well as our new – and hopefully successful – antiserum.

Major walked one serial killer and the rapist to Room B where he strapped them down to a steel table and began to promptly inject them with the virus. He then took the other two in to Room A. I stood by the bullet proof glass window and waited for the subject to detect them. Cadet sat on the other chair with her computer, waiting to take my notes. Major decided to stand next to me in guard, always faithful.

At first nothing happened, and then nothing happened. The active subject – known as Red for the study – stood in the corner of the room with his head bowed, always unmoving. He had been one of the originals, the only thing saving him from death being that he was the son of a senator. The inmates stood on the other end of the room, looking around for a way to escape. I began my dictation as one of the larger men neared Red.

"Subject one approaches Red and stops with a distance of approximately seven feet; there is no change other than a slight acknowledge of movement by the tilting of the chin. Subject two approaches Red stopping at the same distance as the other... still no major reaction. Number one approaches Red again. Red growls and attacks the Subject going for the jugular. Subject catches him on time and pushes him up against the wall... Red is scratching at his arms still trying to get to jugular. Second Subject approaches only to slip on something on the floor. First Subject's arms are scratched with deep laceration, he throws Red away from him to other direction of the room. Red stands up and rushes blindly towards them only to trip on the second Subject. Red successfully attaches his mouth on to second Subject's shoulder and starts to suck out the blood. First Subject runs to the door instead of helping his comrade. Second Subject has stopped struggling after a minute... it is apparent from this angle that Red's mouth is not only filled with flesh and blood, but also with what has now been called venom which once used to be saliva; it is dripping inside the wound. Red has abandoned the body and stopped moving altogether," I finished in a detached, monotone voice.

"The other two are transforming," announced the Major.

"Keep an eye on theses, Cadet, and make sure to make any appropriate annotations," I instruct as I make my way over to the next window. Surely enough, they were changing already. The process had been shortening in time. It seemed as if what once took two hours for my Adam to complete, only took a mere half hour now.

"Be ready with the antiserum, Major."

"Yes, Sir."

By the time I had arrived at the first window, the second Subject had already reanimated and had begun to attack the first Subject. "Did you get the notes?"

"Yes, Sir. Would you like to review them?"

"No, not now. I will when I review the tape myself. Major, dispose of these two except for Red."

I walked back to the second window to observe the new active subjects. This job had taken it's tow completely. It seemed as if we were taking steps back rather than advancing further. The new antiserum had yet to be tested, and if I was honest with myself, I knew it wasn't going to work.

I faintly heard as Major shot the two Subjects in Room A only to appear in Room B a few minutes later. It seemed as if Red had attacked him again; he had new scars on his neck. Major walked slowly around each bed where each of the last two remaining Subjects had been strapped. He then injected them with the new antiserum and returned to my side to observe along with Cadet. Of course as I had suspected, nothing happened. They subjects were immediately discarded since there wasn't anything new we could learn from them.

I was angry since nothing was working. My group had already reached their limits: Major had taken the majority of injuries to his body since he handled them personally, while Cadet couldn't even sleep through the night because of everything she had witnessed; me... I didn't sleep anymore.

All of a sudden the power shut off leaving us in complete darkness. This was a surprise since our employer always made sure that we always had a back up generator ready in case of emergencies and it wasn't turning on yet. What was also unexpected, was the sudden action going on in Room A.

Red had always just stood still in his place, and always with a blank look. But now... now he has all over the room running around trying to get out. Somehow he was able to see us, something the subjects had never before done; we had always assumed that they were blind, and yet... there was nothing blind behind the blood lust in his eyes. The pounding only increased and stopped suddenly as the lights came back on. The growling was still persistent, but his eyes had returned to what they once to used to be... blank.

"What was that?" Cadet asked breathlessly as she held on to her chest protectively.

"I thought they were blind... that has always given us the advantage before. But this... if they are able to see... Oh My God! What are we going to do?"

I had to think fast, but my mind kept replaying the last five minutes. "We have to tell the President. The virus is already attacking civilians and we've been good about containing them, but even if a few of them slip through our fingers, there's no telling how fast this will spread when the sun goes down."

When all was said and done, the President – or shall I say his advisors – didn't seem to think that this was a problem that needed to be notified to the people. According to them, the CDC had issued a warning that let people know that if anyone was displaying any flu symptoms, it would be best to go to the hospital; once they were there, the hospital staff was to report to the CDC if any of the cases were 'special' so that the military would then take them into isolation where they would be 'dealt with.'

January turned quickly in to March. The cases had slowly started to become more and more frequent. Even though the patients had been 'dealt with,' didn't mean that the families were too. We kept watch over the news of the few missed cases where the military wasn't involved. I didn't know what had become of those few people, and I was too scared to think of the consequences.

The President continued to be in denial as the situation worsened, or so I thought. Cadet had a sister who worked as one of his many assistants. From what little information she was able to give us, it seemed as if the President and his advisors were making special preparations for their safety. Instead of spreading the news, they had taken it upon themselves to find the President a hiding spot where he would be joined by other governors, his most trusted advisors and family.

That was a bad sign if I ever saw one.

It was from that piece of leaked information that we took charge. Cadet and Major each sold off their apartments and moved in with me. With that money we secured many supplies that varied from hygiene, water, food, medical and even stupid nonsense like Ipads and Ipods that we just couldn't depart from. It took us half of March, but we were able to fill my large house with supplies. Major sold his BMW and bought an old school bus. I sold my Mercedes Benz and rented an RV, although I wasn't planning on returning it. The rest of our funds were used to buy large amounts of gasoline. We had to go to different gas stations in different cities. Things like gas, gas generators, matches, lighters... anything that would be scarce was bought.

While Cadet and Major scoured the city and warned their families of the danger, I had taken it upon myself to find us a place to hide. The internet was a complete life saver; every time a place would seem like the best one to go to, I would look up information of future weather patterns or even if the soil surrounding it would be good for farming, all of that without raising from my seat. At the end of the day, no place would be safe until we knew the situation for sure. So instead of buying a new place, I remembered once camping as a child, finding a hidden cave. The cave had been huge with a small pond of water, although it wasn't easily accessible. That was be our best place until things settled and then we could go to our final place.

It also gave me news from around the world. It seemed as if the mutated flu was not being contained, even though no one was reporting any zombies. I wondered if the few murder sprees were not just regular murders or cults as they were announcing. I had once called the news building and 'slipped' information regarding the President's disappearance from public along with the cause; they laughed, making that my only attempt.

During the last few days we learned as much as we could from Red. We observed him through different scenarios that mostly included the lights on and off. From what we gathered, the flu mutated the genes, making it impossible for the brain to continue existing in it's current state, thus ending the life of the host... to then revive as what they were intended to be. They gorged themselves in blood, making sure they sucked every drop out even from a loose limb or eye socket if possible. I think they needed the protein in the blood to sustain their bodies. They didn't posses any extra strength or speed... thank god! The way they died was the way they would live in their next life. What they did gain was enhanced sensory: smell distances of approximately five feet and enhanced sight – which was why they stood still when there was any type of light – blind where there was light but deadly sight during the dark. They didn't communicate, even with others like themselves.

It was during one of these experiments where things went wrong. The government had 'forgotten' to let us know that our employment had been terminated. They cut off all of our supplies and with that, the electricity. Red went wild and was able to attack Cadet while she had been locking his door. I had barely been able to stop Major from retaliating and getting himself killed. I needed him more than I needed Cadet and in this new world... I had to protect what I had left. We disposed of the two bodies.

We left in a hurry back to my house. I carried all of our maps and compasses while Major carried all of his guns. We made it safely and without problems. We had three locations we were considering. For the first wave of fallout, we were going to the hidden cave. The RV and bus were not going to be able to make it all the way so we mapped out a hidden place for the them near the cave. We spent the rest of March and beginning of April making several trips for the transportation of all the supplies in to the cave. The problem had been lifting the heavy equipment the nine feet off the ground and inside, but somehow we managed.

The rest had been a waiting game; waiting for the end, for everything, for nothing. One week later, the only family to ever arrive to our hiding place had been Major's brother and his family. They had seen the videos of course, something of which I didn't agree with, but ultimately necessary in order for them to believe us. The Cave wasn't cramped per se, it was suffocating. The entrance had been boarded up and everyone had their place settled for the rest of our stay.

A week later, the growls began. They smelled us, but couldn't find us. We heard heard cries of pain, pleads for help... and then silence, only to start again. We stayed busy and as quiet as we could. We silently made plans, hoping things settled quick and hopefully into something livable.

"How much longer do you think, Sir?" Major asked, turning off his Ipod.

I considered my answer. We could leave now and risk death, or we could wait a little bit longer and still risk death. I had no answers to give anyone, I wasn't a leader anymore, I couldn't hold these people's lives on my hands alone.

"As long as it takes... as long as we need." What more could I say... 'Take a peak and let me know?'

Sir... he was still calling me that... Sir. I wasn't a Sir, not anymore, not ever.

"Jasper?" I called. His head, and everyone else's for that matter turned their full attention to me, all of them showing nothing but surprise and happiness that we were finally getting over that barrier.

"Call me, Esme."


	10. Time

**Chapter 10 - Time**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places and settings belong to their respectable owners. No copyright infringement is intended. I don't own anything. **

**A/N: Welcome back everyone. Thanks for the reviews. A lot happens in this chapter so pay attention. Warning: Semi lemons, and semi language.**

* * *

**BPOV: Sometime around April, 2009**

The Star Spangled Banner had one line that always stood out above all the others...

**O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.**

The Pledge of Allegiance had two...

**One Nation under God, indivisible,**

**With Liberty and Justice for all.**

These words had always had meaning for me, as well as for the rest of the nation I would assume. But as of the last couple of days, weeks... they had lost their meaning.

We had been hiding in our basement for what felt like forever. The upstairs area had been deemed as 'dangerous.' I had lost track of time; minutes, hours, days didn't matter. After the first week, it became evident that things had changed. I learned many things that once upon a time, I had never once given them a second thought. In school they taught you about the injustice that was slavery and their lack of freedom, or even learning about women not having the same rights as men. Hell... I still didn't vote during the past election, taking for granted my rights. I regret that more than the accidental brushing against Riley's hard-on... correction, Edward's hard-on. That was another thing I learned, ignorance was bliss.

The learning about Victoria and Riley's true identities had taken the back burner due to the infestation, but that didn't mean that it was completely forgotten though. When the mountain man had entered our house and took complete control of everyone, I thought he was going to take Ril... Edward and Rosalie with him to where ever the hell it was they came from. Instead, he demanded, or more like pushed everyone down the basement and explained the danger. It wasn't until a few days later when everyone thought I was sleeping that they let their guard down and I discovered the truth.

Apparently Rosalie, who was only 19 by the way, started to party with the wrong people in Chicago. She met some guy by the name of... Ron? Roger? Royce... I think, and started to down whirl. Late night parties turned into all week parties where drugs were introduced and eventually she was so drugged out that unbeknownst to her, she had been put up for auctioning to the highest bidder. In came Rile... Edward. _Edward! Edward! _

He was working as a pianist for a private party where the auction was suppose to take place. He happened to wander down the wrong corridor and into the room where all the girls had been kept until showtime. He called the cops and helped save the girls but got caught in the process. He had been saved by police and was now hiding with Rosalie. They were to serve as witnesses against a powerful organization that dealt with prostitution. My dad Charlie was appointed as their guardian until trial. Riley and Victoria were their secret identities. When I confronted my dad with the information, he had confessed into having a fallout with Sue because of them. She was opposed to having them in her house and was upset that Charlie had once again chosen his career over his wife. She moved out a day before they moved in. Surprisingly enough, he didn't seem that upset over it.

When I confronted Edward and Rosalie, they were scared that I had ratted them out to everyone, but pleased to not having to use the other names. The situation with the infected had also changed the game for everyone. That included bringing mountain man into our lives; Emmett.

Emmett was a US Marshall who had been hiding in the woods and keeping Edward and Rosalie safe. It was in the woods that he first encountered the first infected. It wasn't long before the rest started to come out. What I had witnessed, had been one of the few that had gotten away from him during the night. He had almost reached our door, until he lured him to our front yard instead where he tried to shoot him. That had been the shots we heard when Victo... Rosalie had tried to leave.

The living arrangements were difficult, specially for us girls. All the mattresses were brought downstairs and were shared by everyone, except for whoever was guarding the upstairs, which always happened to be the men. They would not let us girls do anything besides prepare the food for everyone. Food was scarce as it was; that meant that the men also went on raids by themselves while us girls stayed back. Their caveman complex was so infuriating. What the hell happened to woman's rights? Zombies come in and all of a sudden we become incapable of anything! It didn't help our case that every time we tried to help, they would shun us, we would growl in frustration, they would laugh and call us angry kittens. Fucking kittens had more going on for them than we did.

Everything was monitored down to our bathroom schedules. No one, and I mean no one, went to the bathroom alone. Wether it was to use the toilet or to shower, we were always paired in minimums of three. Two girls and one boy, or two boys and one girl. Showers had become increasingly sparse as the days went by in order to preserve water. I had gotten to know the girls so personally that we could tell you where each one of us had moles.

The relationships between men and women were strained. Charlie had taken it upon himself to go to the station to look for help and weapons. He had been gone for four days and we still had not heard back from him. Emmett was in charge while Charlie was away, using his experience with guns as an excuse. He was funny, always using names of food instead of cuss words; he said that food would become a luxury and he wanted to at least remember it, it was a memorial of sorts. Rosalie was smitten with him, although he always rebuffed her advances. He told her time and time again that she wasn't his type, too high maintenance, too girly; his refusal had turned her super bitchy which was why we always paired her off with Jacob. No one could stand him either.

Jacob still kept trying to woo me and I kept trying to shoo him. His dramatics were better suited with the she-bitch and her unrequited love; they had formed some kind of kinship over it. Edward was... annoying, perverted and such an asshole. Ever since his identity was revealed, it was like some weight was lifted off his shoulders and felt like he could act like the man of the basement.

His relationship with Alice was one I never understood. What had started out as annoyance, had turned into some sort of friendship. It began two days ago while we were showering. Emmett was guarding the she-bitch and her dog while Edward followed Alice and me for our shower. Edward stood guard outside our door as we took to undressing. Showering in underwear and bra was uncomfortable so we said, 'what the hell, might was well do it all the way, right?' It wasn't like we didn't' know each other already. She was my soulmate.

I was under the water as Alice soaped her body. We were about to switch places when all of a sudden I slipped on the soap suds on the floor. My body was literally swept off the ground with my feet high up in the air. I screamed as I landed on my back with my feet up. At the same time, my feet had hit Alice and she fell forwards on top of me on all fours. I looked at her startled, and highly shocked that her face was only inches from my pussy. I opened my mouth, she opened her mouth, no sound coming out from either of us when the door was pushed open by an alarmed Edward, ready to defend us. He stopped as he took in our positions, me on the floor with my legs open in the air and Alice on all four in between them. A slow grin appeared on his face as he adjusted his pants.

"By all means... please continue," he suggested, taking a seat on the toilet to watch us.

He continued to stare, waiting for us to finish. The water turning cold had snapped us out and I reached for the soap and threw it at his crotch. Unfortunately he had seen my hand and turned at the right moment. He stepped out and left the door opened in case we needed him again. The asshole told everyone about our affair. The only good thing coming out was Jacob thinking that Alice and I were a real couple, thus the reason for rejecting him all that time.

Somehow after 'The Event,' Alice's little friendship with Edward became a thorn on my ass. They had these little talks where one or the other would look at me and smile, never telling me what the hell was the smile for. Alice never told, saying it was his story to tell.

"Do you need a shower?" he asked out of the blue.

"No, I showered yesterday, remember? I thought we could only shower every other day?" I questioned, wondering what his real intentions were.

"I just thought you would appreciate an extra shower, I know I need one."

I thought about it hard, I really wanted a shower... really bad. I looked at the others: Jacob and Rosalie were huddled in the corner looking over a fashion magazine Alice had found in her luggage. Emmett was gone for another raid and Alice was in the attic keeping a look out, something no one was aware of yet.

"Um... okay," I conceded. I turned to see if anyone was looking at us before we made our way to the bathroom upstairs. Once we entered, it became clear that we were going to have to get undressed, something that had escaped my notice before since being clean was my priority. "So... how do we do this. I mean... we can't just get naked."

"Why not?" he asked, taking off his shirt.

I stared at his chiseled chest and muscles that disappeared with the V by his hips. I noticed the trail of hairs that led down to his crotch were not blond like his hair; they were an odd shade of brown with red. "How long have you been coloring your hair to blond?" I started to undress as I asked my question.

"Huh? What color... oh, right. Hm, my hair color is a weird bronze color. Emmett thought it would be better if we at least changed our hair color. Blond was easier for me, Rosalie is a natural blond though. She chose red because any other color would make her look emo instead of exotic."

By the time he finished explaining the color situation we were both undressed down to our underwear. We silently stepped inside the shower, each heading to opposite sides of the large space. I stood under the shower head, relishing in the cleanse feeling left by the water as it caressed down my curves. Without giving it a second thought, I caressed my arms, entranced the droplets of water. Not even a few seconds later I tensed as I felt a set of arms circle my waist from behind.

"Whoa... what are you doing?" I asked, my voice sounding more shaky than I liked.

"Mmm?" he questioned, his lips skimming the side of my neck.

My body seemed to have a mind of it's own as my neck, involuntarily turned sideways, giving him access to the rest of my neck. I felt his mouth open, kissing, nibbling, sucking along my neck. Our hips began moving against each other as if we were dancing to a slow song. His fingers trailed up along my torso, reaching to the underside of my bra, pushing it out of it's way. A groan escaped my throat as his fingers found purchase on one of my nipples. The grinding picked up pace, the song changing with haggard breaths and pants. Low moans and yeses leaving our lips. My hand reached behind me, grabbing the rest of him, hard, unyielding against my hand.

"Hey, are you almost... OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK!" yelled Alice from the open doorway.

Realizing what we were doing and our positions, I yanked my body away from his grasp and pushed myself against the wall. I tried to cover myself since my underwear and bra had turned transparent sometime along the way. I had forgotten they were lacy white.

"We were about to start... do you want to join us?" he asked with fucking grin from ear to ear.

"Oh, no, no, no. This isn't happening," I muttered, embarrassment flooding my senses.

"Hey, now. Where do you think you're going? You can't leave me here alone. What if some of the zombies come in? Who's going to protect me?"

I stared back, incredulous that I had found this asshole somewhat attractive, that I had allowed him the honor of touching my awesome body.

_But, Goddammit, did it feel good. No, no, no, think bad thoughts... bad thoughts... bad thoughts..._

"Dude! If I were you, I would chil-lax before she castrates you. Be a good boy and just let Pamela finish the work for her. Bells, get dressed please. Once was enough, yes you're hot, but please put some fucking clothes on for everyone's sake."

I clutched a towel tightly around my torso and grabbed the extra set of clothes that I kept under the sink for emergencies. I ran to the room next to the bathroom and threw myself against the bed. I screamed against the sheets, feeling so fucking frustrated that we started, were interrupted, and didn't finish. I was more frustrated at feeling attracted to him. I didn't want to feel anything for him. If it was only lust, I would have been on him like flies on meat; but my feelings were boarding down to obsessive ever since we had been on lockdown.

I felt Alice come inside the room and trail a finger along my calf. "If I were you, I would just do it. Get it out of your system, you know."

"I don't think it'll get out of my system, Ali. The bastard caught me off guard, that's all. You have to promise that you won't leave me alone with him, Alice. No matter what happens, you don't leave me alone with him. I can't be held responsible for his rape or murder."

She laughed as she listened to my rant. "Bells, chill. You're so wound up. He's already taking care of business anyways."

"Who's Pamela?" I asked, remembering Alice telling him to have **her**finish **my** job. I felt a stab in my chest as I thought of some other whore with her hands anywhere on his body. _Fuck, now I'm having health problems. What is it with these chest pains?_

"Pamela? Ha!" She laughed. "Really, Bells? I didn't say Pamela. I said Palmela, Palm- e- la. As in take matters in to his own palms. I thought it should have a name with all the work it's been doing. My car has a name, why not his hand?"

My body relaxed slightly after she finished her speech. I avoided her face because I knew my face was red with embarrassment. I knew I shouldn't care about him. He was a cocky son of a bitch who thought was better than anyone cause a) he was musically gifted, b) he was gorgeous, c) he was a man, and a man had to take care of the women. Fucking asshole.

Besides, with zombies running around and destroying the rest of the world, the last thing anyone needed was to get surprised by the stork; and everyone knew that the stork never just brings one baby, bad news always come in threes.

Which brought me back to our situation. Zombies running world wide was the first bad news. Second bad news was the President suddenly going missing. No one knew where the bastard had gone in to hiding, or if he was still alive. We only knew that he was missing from the White House, most in the government were beside themselves looking for him. The third bad news, we were on our own. With no government, other countries were either scared of us or taking advantage. There were a few people who had fled the country. Hell, everyone around the world were fleeing into other countries they felt they would be safer in. The problem with that... the recipient countries were not happy with that. They started closing down their borders, to the point of shooting anyone that came near them.

The zombies infesting our world didn't look like the ones from movies. They didn't have decaying body parts, unless they were previous dinner, they were hardly detectable among the regular people. The only thing giving them away was when they stood still during the daylight. We didn't know why that was, only that they did. Many people were shot during the day just because they had taken a break from running. Things had gotten out of control. Many innocents were killed, many.

The worst part had been when our military turned against us. They went from protecting people to protecting their own. **One Nation under God, Indivisible... **Our God had abandoned us, he had abandoned everyone. Maybe he had decided that a new start would be best. We would prove him wrong. About being indivisible, this country was more divisible than a jigsaw puzzle. States turned against their neighbors, countries against countries, allies became enemies. Soon, bombs started dropping.

That had happened during week three; the bombs dropped. We weren't sure what to make of them, only that they were directed more towards the large cities; small towns, much like ours, had gone incognito, that, or we were just insignificantly small. I had never been so damn happy for that. That didn't stop us from feeling the tremors from nearby large towns and cities. We could only hope that we were forgotten.

As far as the raiding went, that was centered on our neighbor's homes. No one dared to venture out in to the drug store or anywhere near the highway. It was visible for any of the many military planes to see. Our only form on communication had been an old radio that miraculously Rosalie had fixed. No one was more surprised than her when it turned on. Televisions didn't have signals, phones were completely dead. Rosalie had found an old radio that Gram Marie had kept from Grandpa Charles from his military days. She hoped we could somehow communicate with someone that we were alive and healthy, and in need of some damn food. I highly doubted it.

As far as relationships went, Emmett had given Rosalie the last word to leave him the 'Fudge' alone. After she bitched at him for a long ass time, she focused her angry vibes on Gram's radio. Emmett and I became almost inseparable. He was funny, telling stories of his many police busts, high school pranks and even many hanky pankies in high school.

I once asked him about Rosalie. "Why don't you just let her blow you. She's already puckered out anyway."

He scrunched up his face in disgust. "Freckles, if a let every girl with a pucker near my dick, it would have shriveled up and died. I need a bacon woman, not a strawberry one." The subject was dropped.

Alice and Edward became even more buddy-buddy. I felt betrayed, jealous, and fucking pissed. She was my friend dammit, not his. It was like one look at two naked chics in a porno position and all of a sudden he becomes buds with one and wants to bone the other. He kept trying to get in to my pants, little touches here, little rubs there... it was hard pushing his fingers out of my panties when I was two seconds from an amazing orgasm. I had woken up during an exotic dream only to find my dream had not been a dream. With his fingers buried deep inside, I let it linger a bit until I knew that he knew that I was awake; I then pretended to be offended.

Alice could see behind the mask, she found it funny, I found it miserable. Jacob had backed off considerably. I later found out through Alice that she wasn't the only one who had caught me and Edward in the shower. Plus, it seemed that Leah, Sue's daughter, was keeping him busy.

Leah... she was gorgeous. She had not been aware of Sue and Charlie's fall out. She was the only in the town that we found wandering through the drug store. We brought her back with us, Emmett complaining that we better not start synchronizing our periods. He said, 'One barbecue sandwich is enough at a time.' I was worried Edward would find her attractive, then I berated myself.

Charlie came back during week four, along with Sue. She wasn't that bad to be around with. Apparently being near death had changed her perspective in life and now babied my dad. He too changed his ways for the better. They were all about each other, forgetting the rest of us. They were confined to the downstairs bedroom.

And so, we continued like that for the rest of the month of April. Hiding during the night, being extra quiet when the growls approached the house; and living during the day, yet afraid of our own neighbors. We would have to leave soon, that much was clear. Our supplies were borderline laughable, besides, who wanted to live the rest of their existence in a basement? I just hoped and prayed that someone would find us, that we would find healthy people. But mostly, I prayed that someone up there, would hear me, hear us.


	11. Moving Forward

**Moving Forward**

**Disclaimer: All characters and things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended. I do not own anything.**

**A/N: Hello Family. Yes, you're family, in good and in bad, you guys have stuck with me... I appreciate it. Thanks for the reviews and support you guys have given me from the beginning. Now let's move on...**

* * *

**BPOV:**

Life goes on, time moves forward, wether you want it to or not; unless of course you're a man and times have regressed back to male dominance. If things had been annoying and frustrating before, they were now down right insufferable. It got so bad that even Alice and her budding fucking friendship with Edward was suffering. When we were sure that it was daylight and no zombie, or the infected – or whatever they're called – were in the vicinity, she would bring out my little Hello Kitty boombox and play Stronger by Britney Spears. What better way to annoy the men than with a female empowerment song and Britney? Of course, the guys couldn't get over the fact that it was a Britney song, and so they didn't listen to the message behind the song and groaned instead. Rosalie suggested she find a song a little more their taste, which she later did try with the song Can't Hold Me Down by Christina Aguilera and Lil' Kim. The boys listened to that alright; who knew Rosalie could come up with ideas?

A grinning Emmett, red-faced Charlie, smirking Edward and a confused Jacob, apologized for their caveman tendencies. That still didn't mean that they backed down though. Not at least until they were forced to.

It was now almost the middle of May. Emmet and Charlie had caught a cold during one of their raid expeditions. We couldn't be sure that it was just a regular cold compared to the flu that had killed and transformed the rest of the world in to zombies; so, with great reluctancy, they were quarantined in to our basement for the duration of their sickness... or death. We all moved in to the attic because it had a retractable ladder, just in case.

Edward and Jacob had taken over the raids, claiming that even though they believed us capable of helping them, they wouldn't be able to concentrate at the task at hand for being too worried about us instead. We couldn't begrudge them on their protectiveness, so we let them go alone. That had been a mistake. Jacob and Edward did not know how to function together as a team, and as a result, Jacob ended up getting injured by a zombie. He wasn't bitten, but he was pretty beat up in the fight against his life. Edward ended up carrying him home and forgetting the supplies they had acquired. Needless to say, Jacob was quarantined along with Charlie and Emmett down in the basement since we weren't sure what it took to become one; according to movies you had to be bitten or scratched. Leah and Sue had taken it upon themselves to care for the guys.

Rosalie was too afraid to go out of the house by herself and lacked the skills to do so anyways. That left Alice, Edward and me. No one was trusting Alice and her cooking anymore, but since she had an amazing aim with a certain taser gun, she was given a real gun and was ordered to protect the house. I showed Rosalie how to cook stew in the crock pot by basically combining the last of the beef and vegetables we had left. Since Edward was the only one left who knew the location of the supplies as well as the places that had not been explored yet, it was up to both of us to go together.

"Bells?" Alice called, walking in to my room as I prepared my bag to leave.

"Yeah, do you need something?" I tried to pull my hair in a pony tail so I wouldn't have to deal with it on the outside.

"When you go out there..." she trailed off, sounding small and scared.

Her tone got my full attention. "What is it, Alice? Do you want me to bring you something specific?"

She lowered her head, trying to cover a... blush?_ Oh my fuck!_ "Alice! You're blushing," I said excitedly, since she only blushed when extremely nervous or when she was caught doing something she wasn't suppose to be doing.

She cleared her throat and took a seat next to me. "Yeah... well... I was wondering... if you happened to, oh you know... um..."

"Spit it out, sister," I encouraged, highly amused.

"Could you... this is so hard," she whined. She took a deep breath before she finally blurted out her request. "Can you bring me back a dildo?"

I choked back on my saliva. "What did you just ask me?" I asked, turning a color similar to hers.

"You know what I said, don't make me ask again, please." She looked at my expression, a cross between amusement, embarrassment but mostly curiosity, before she felt the need to explain herself. "Look, everyone here is paired up, everyone except me. Charlie has Sue, Jacob has Leah, Rosalie has Emmett, and you have Edward. I'm alone!" she wailed.

"Alice!" I yelled, pretty fucking disturbed at her insinuations. "Everything you just said is so fucking wrong, sweetheart. First of all, Rosalie does not have Emmett. He can't even stand being in the same room as Barbie. I do not have Edward.** He**, violated **me**, you are his friend so ask him for a little help in that department. And did you just seriously insinuate that if Charlie didn't have Sue you would totally do him? You would do Jacob?"

She scrunched up her face in understanding. "Ewww, no... I didn't mean it like that and you know it, Bells. What the hell? You would never catch me anywhere near that dog and you know Charlie is my dad. Rosalie does have Emmett, he just doesn't know it yet. And, you have Edward, you just don't know it."

"Alice, if this is about getting off, don't you think your fingers will do the trick?"

"Have you heard of carpal tunnel?" she retorted.

"Alice, we live pretty much in the middle of nowhere, in a world where water has become a hot commodity. I'm pretty sure the stores here don't have anything that even resembles a dick, Ali." I couldn't help it, I laughed. I laughed so hard she had to pat me on the back when I started to hiccup.

"Just... don't get yourself killed. Okay, kiddo?" she demanded. "If you get yourself killed, rest assured I'm hunting your body down and bring you back to life, kill you again, and repeat. Got that?"

"Got it." I wasn't exactly sure if she had been joking around about the dildo, but either way, I didn't bring up the subject again.

She helped me with my hair, making a french braid instead. She also made me changed my clothes. I was wearing a pair of sweats and long sleeve t-shirt to fight off the cold. She pointed out how the clothes were too baggy and easy for anyone to hold on to. I changed into leg warmers, yoga pants, long thermal shirt with my tight long sleeve shirt over it. I felt stuffy and heavy, but warm. My backpack had a small first aid pack as well as a water bottle and two granola bars, along with a gun and ammo. As I was leaving, Rosalie handed me a big butcher knife, just in case she said.

Edward was waiting for me at the end of the stairs, dressed similar to me, only he was wearing jeans instead. We made sure to leave as soon as it was light enough outside. We weren't sure how long we would be gone for, since I suggested that we hit as many places as possible. We were expecting to be gone for at least one day, but we were not betting on it.

We decided to take Nessie with us so we would have the advantage to carry more with us. He wanted to hit the store immediately, but I wanted to stop at every house on the way. He claimed that these houses had already been raided by Emmett and Charlie. Not wanting to argue with him, I proposed a different plan. We would go to the store first, but then we would head North towards the hospital and hit every place in between. He was reluctant to go anywhere besides where his supplies were stored, but agreed that extras wouldn't hurt.

We encountered several zombies along the way. They were all standing still, immediately reminding me of the girl Alice had tried to save. It took me a while to reconcile her with the zombie status. Weren't zombies suppose to walk slowly towards you, and yet no matter how fast you ran, the same shit head was always behind you at every turn? Not these, the damn movies got it all wrong. These stood still and waited for some dumb ass to bump in to them, which had been what happened to Jacob. They had been walking down an isle, thinking that the store was clear. When they rounded the corner, Jacob walked straight in to the arms of a zombie. The scuffle and smell of blood had alerted to other zombies who blindly bumped around towards the smell.

Edward didn't talk much on the ride to the store, in fact, he didn't even acknowledge my presence. After being accosted by him at every turn, this new attitude threw me off, making me feel... mad, confused.

"Why are you being so quiet?" I asked, not being able to handle the quietness anymore.

"Just thinking. It's nothing," he replied absentmindedly.

"No, you're definitely thinking about something. Plus, you haven't tried to molest me since we left the house. What, are you afraid to be seen with me out in public?"

He laughed a loud belly laugh that had him leaning his head on the closed window. I couldn't help but laugh along with him since his laugh was very contagious. I made it my goal to make him laugh as much as possible from that moment on, even it meant that I had to embarrass myself.

"Thanks, I needed that, you know. Everything has been so tense around the house and I... I can't help to think about my family. With everything that's happened... witnessing a murder, sex slaves, zombies... let's just say everything is about hitting me right now," he confessed, sounding vulnerable.

"I don't know what to say, Edward. What can I say? I don't know if your family is okay. I still have my dad but that doesn't mean my mom is still alive either. I wish I knew what to tell you, but I just, I guess I know how you feel to a certain extent."

"Tell me about her."

I realized he was trying to deflect the attention from him and if he needed that, who I was I to deny him. I thought about my mom before I answered him. "Well, she's... beautiful, light-brown hair, almost the color of honey. Her eyes are a soft blue color and she's about my height with killer curves..."

"What's her personality like, I mean."

"I know what you mean ass-hat, I was getting to it," I playfully jested. He raised his arms in surrender and smirked towards me.

"She is very artistic, easily distracted, childish and young at heart, Edward. Growing up with her was very hard and sometimes sad. She tried hard to be a mother but sometimes the harder she tried, the worst she would fail."

"What do you mean?" he asked, curiosity burning in his eyes. "Can you give me an example."

"Yeah, I can give you many but the one that always stands..." I took a deep breath. "When I was little I always tried to do everything and anything to make her smile, to keep her attention on me instead of on something or someone else. So when she started her phase in watching ballet I immediately wanted to try it. I was six at the time and put every effort into learning the steps and turns that the little girls had been learning since they were three years old. My mom was so happy when I would go home and show her the new steps I learned or the new routine, so that made me work twice as hard.

The school I was learning in was having a performance done for the parents where it would show case everything we learned. I was so happy and practiced with the other little girls hard. You see, everyone of the little girls there had something to prove, one was always missing a parent who worked too hard and always missed the practice, so this was a big deal for each one of us. This was something we all bonded in. For me, Charlie lived in Washington, and I lived with my mom in Arizona alone, and even then, she always missed my practices. Can you imagine a little six year old walking alone to her ballet class after school?

The day of the performance, my mom had hinted that she might not be there, something about a meeting she had that might run late but she would try to make it. I kept looking out for her, thinking that she wasn't going to make it. I didn't want to ruin the performance for the other little girls so I suck it up. Just as the curtains were about to open, I saw her walking down the isle towards the seats holding a camera. I was so happy, Edward. Not only did she make it, but she deemed me good enough to want a filming of it. Needless to say, I danced my little heart out. I danced, twirled, dipped and pranced the shit out of myself. Hell, everyone one of us did. And we all did get to have our parents there except for one little girl who's mother couldn't give ten shits about her.

Everything was fine until I saw the video a day later. I was going to send a copy to Charlie because he had been requesting one. I wanted to make sure that I didn't embarrass myself so I decided to see it first. It started off with me dancing, having the greatest time of my life, and you could even hear the commentary my mom was having since the microphone was close to her. She praised me... until someone caught her eye. The one little girl who's mother didn't care about, danced across the stage and stole her attention. The video stopped following me and followed her instead for the rest of the time. If her praises of me were about how good I did the kick or good job that I didn't fall, her's were about the beauty and excellence of it all. You could barely see my little brown head every once in a while in the background."

I stopped and took a moment to rein in my emotions as few tears slipped down my cheeks. Just because it had been many years ago, it didn't mean I ever got over it; it still hurt. Edward hesitantly reached across and wiped them away from my face. I gave him a water smile and continued.

"Well, needless to say, my little heart was broken with disappointment. That little girl couldn't keep her mother's attention but she sure as hell could keep my mom's. That was how I met Alice."

I stopped as he gasped at that piece of information. "That little girl was Alice?" When I nodded he continued questioning. "How are you two friends then. I don't know if I would ever be able to befriend another boy after taking away the spotlight like that."

"Oh, trust me it wasn't easy. I was mad at my mom. This was one instance that I wished she would have been her normal disappointing self and not showed up. Remember, her good intentions always ruin everything? I screamed at Alice during the next practice and made her cry when I showed her the video. I thought she was crying because of the way I treated her, but I later realized that she was crying because for the first time in her life, someone had noticed her and said something kindly. I couldn't be mad at her after that and we became friends, no, sisters."

We reached the store as I finished my story and took a few minutes to scan the surroundings before attempting to get out of Nessie. "Hey, Bella?"

I turned to look at him, afraid that I had said too much since I was aware that men didn't do well with girl and sob stories. "Yes?"

"I appreciate you telling me that. Thank you. I want you to know that I appreciate you and the rest of the girls, especially your body. I know I might come off as stand-offish and maybe a little horny..."

I snorted when he said 'a little horny.' That was putting it lightly. "Don't you mean more like sexually deprived?"

"I know, I know, but a guy's gotta get it when he can, right?"

I shook my head in exasperation. "Leave it to a man to kill the mood," I lightly muttered, knowing that he did it only lighten the mood, his smirk confirming my thoughts.

We walked out of Nessie as silent as we can be, only carrying our weapons with us. We left the backpacks and food inside the truck. Our mission was to go in, gather as many supplies as possible, and get out without being noticed.

The front of the store was shattered in, with the broken pieces painted with dried blood. Bloody handprints that dragged from one wall to another indicated someone had been seriously hurt and dragged around. The smell of blood was faint, but still present, along with another smell I couldn't identify. Considering how small the town was, the store had many shelves that had not yet been emptied out. I briefly wondered if we were the only survivors who were looting the town.

"Grab a cart and just throw everything you can inside," I whispered my instructions, pointing to the small overturned cart by the diaper section.

"No. We get only food and water, possibly first aid kits, but nothing more."

"Are you fucking kidding me. No wonder you guys are always making these trips; you don't supply yourselves enough," I whispered-yelled. I was so mad; the last injury could have been avoided had they gotten more than enough supplies the time they had gone before.

"No, you get what you want and I"ll get what we need. I'm warning you, I'm not going to help you when you overload yourself." He walked away fuming, kicking stuff out of his way as he headed towards the back of the store.

_What an asshole, no... a super asshole. Fucking dip-shit, I'll show you_, I angrily muttered.

I righted the cart and walked rolled it to the first isle that had a few baby items as well as hygiene for adults. Without even really checking what I threw in there, I ran my arm along the shelve and let the products fall inside the cart. I wasn't careless enough as he thought I was though. I didn't grab five diaper bags, that would have been dumb, so instead I only grabbed two. I continued my way through all the isles until my cart was full. Making sure that the surrounding are was still clear, as well as Nessie, I approached my car and dumped everything inside the back cabin since the last thing I wanted was to make too much noise. I repeated the process with three more isles, the rest were relatively empty, only having a few things left like condoms and cigarettes, which I also grabbed.

I had not seen Edward during my ransacking, making me nervous not knowing where he was exactly. After I unloaded the last of my cargo on Nessie's bed, I went looking for him. I found him in the pharmacy section of the store, reading through each bottle. He had a plastic bag with five bottles inside.

"Are you fucking kidding me! We've been here close to 45 minutes and all you've gathered is that little bag. Sweet baby Jesus, give me strength to deal the world's last surviving dumb-ass," I pleaded to the heavens above.

He dramatically rolled his eyes at me and continued reading the label on the bottle he had. I grabbed a paper bag that was kept under the service window and did exactly what I did with the isles. I swept my arm through the little isles and let the bottles fall in the bag. Opening a few drawers, showed me some syringes, which I didn't know if they were going to be useful or not, but I grabbed them anyways.

There was a door that was blocked by shelf that had been knocked over. The shelf didn't look too heavy, but I wasn't so sure I could move it myself. Then, something occurred to me; _why is the shelf blocking the door shut? Did someone drop it by accident or on purpose?_

"Edward?" I whispered, trying to gain his attention. He was so caught up with his label reading absurdity that he didn't even hear me. I tried calling his name a few more times with no success. I grabbed one of the many pieces of garbage on the floor and threw it at him, hitting him hard on the face.

Well you look at that, my aim ain't so bad, I praised myself.

"What the fuck is your problem, Bella? Couldn't you call my name instead?" he whispered-yelled.

"I tried you, ass-hat, but you weren't paying attention."

"Well, you certainly have my undivided attention now," he angrily muttered.

Instead of answering him, I pointed towards the blocked door. He turned to look at me, his expression asking why I bothered him with a door.

"Do you think something's in there?" I quietly asked.

He contemplated my question for a few seconds, his brows furrowed. "Something … or someone," he concluded.

Instead of finding out, we gathered our things and left the store immediately. As much as my curiosity was brimming to know, I wasn't stupid enough to find out. He was surprised at all the things I had filled Nessie with, his little bag of precisely read bottles was a meager comparison to my looted supplies. He was upset at some of the things I had gathered, like the diapers for example.

"I just don't see what the point is," he explained. "None of us have kids and I doubt anyone will want to have any in this new world."

"That's beside the point, Edward."

"Well, what is the point, Bella," he whined, trying to imitate my voice.

"The point is, Edward, that one of these days we will encounter someone who does have a kid and this will be the greatest thing we have to give to them in exchange for something back, I presume. Even if they didn't have anything to exchange back, the fact that we can help someone with something as simple as diapers … I don't know, I guess I don't want to seem as inhuman as the rest of the world has acted so far. It gives me hope that someday things will go back to normal, as normal as they can be at least."

"That's very profound of you, Bella. Who knew you were such a humanitarian."

"Not a humanitarian, just human."

Our trip into looter-ville took us longer than I expected. At day we looted, during the evenings we scouted for places with garages for us to hide as well as Nessie; and during the nights we hid. Electricity was still working, so we made sure to keep the lights on inside the garage. We would close the door and block out any passages that would allow the light to escape and be noticed by outsiders, like underneath the garage door. The only way for anyone to know we were there, was to actually open the side door and walk through all the obstacles we put by the door; when they reached us, we would be ready by then.

We looted houses, businesses, cars, and even the little church our town had. I don't know how many times I prayed throughout our walkthrough, but every step I took, every look I gave a certain item had me feeling like I was going to burn in hell for it. Of course, my little angel and devil made themselves present at the moment. The devil gleefully pointed out every item that we could take, while the angel just stomped her feet on my shoulder and scolded me for being naughty. Even the word naughty sounded dirty inside a church.

On our fourth day, we made a discovery of epic proportions. While we were packing our things to leave the church bright and early, we heard some thumping sound coming from behind a wall. I wanted to leave and finally go home, but Edward claimed that we at least take a look.

"Are you fuc … fudging kidding me?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow in amusement at my change of curse word inside a church. "No, I've been hearing this thumping noise all night while you were sleeping. If it was some zombie, he would have growled his way through already. This sounds more on purpose than anything else."

"Are you saying someone's trying to grab our attention?"

He sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Bella. Now help me find where it's coming from."

I didn't know why this seemed important to him. Why not look behind the door in the grocery store too? How the hell was this thumping important. Instead of pressing my ear against the wall like Edward was doing, I walked directly to the opposite wall and deliberately knocked three times slowly against it.

Three thumping sounds imitated the tempo of mine, confirming Edward's theory that someone was trapped somewhere. I knocked two more times, this time both of us ready to follow location of the sound. Again, it imitated my two knocks and we were able to find a door hidden behind a heavy drape that reached from ceiling to floor. The door was locked, but Edward showed amazing skills at lock picking.

"Teenage rebellion," he explained at my quirked eyebrow.

The room was nothing but a medium size storage room. A gasp escaped the both of us once he managed to turn on the light. I didn't know wether to be amused, disgusted, or plain right confused. But one thing was clear, Alice was going to get her request fulfilled in more ways than one.


	12. Introductions

**Introductions**

**Disclaimer:**** Stephenie owns everything Twilight. I don't own anything. No copyright infringement intended. **

**A/N: ****Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and love you have sent my way. I'm introducing the final set of important characters before we finally move along the story. So June is a busy month for school, updates will come less until the month passes. Come July I'll be able to keep a more stable schedule. Let me know what you think with a review. Until next time.**

* * *

**BPOV:**

The trek back to the house was very intense. Nessie was cramped to capacity and Edward was grouchy as hell. He kept mumbling how we were all going to hell for helping degenerates and that this was his punishment for his 'teenage rebellion phase.'

"You need to really shut the fuck up. Yes, you are going to hell, but not for helping people, more like for fucking molesting me." I ignored the gasp that came from the degenerate in the back seat and continued my ranting. "And you really need to get over whatever the hell you did in your rebellion years. You act as if you committed murder. Unless you did, then no, you're not going to hell for being a teenager. So please, do us all a favor and shut, the hell, up!"

"Damn, darlin'. You're a feisty lil' thing, aren't ya?" drawled the man from the back seat.

"Don't fucking talk to her," demanded Edward.

"I can talk to whoever I want, Edward. You are not my father."

"No, I'm not your father, I'm your boyfr..." he trailed off, his cheeks tainted.

"My what? My boyfriend? Please. That'll be the day," I answered. My heart fluttered when he mentioned boyfr. But the fact that he couldn't even complete the word, was proof enough that I was only the _right now_ girl, to get his socks off in this shitty world.

"So you're free then, darlin'?" the man pressed on.

"No!" yelled Edward at the same time I answered him definitely.

Edward got so upset and purple-faced that he started to slam his hands on Nessie's dashboard. I pulled over on the side of the road and stopped the car's engine altogether. I turned on my seat and slammed my open palms on every Edward surface I could reach. "Don't you ever fucking hit my truck you over-ridden-cock-sucking-angst-ridden-emo-asshole!"

He cowered against my assault as the southern passenger laughed his ass off and the other . . . man, coughed behind his hand.

I expected Edward to apologize for hitting Nessie and to look embarrassed for his outburst, but instead, he looked very smug. "How do you know my cock has been over-ridden?"

"!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in utter frustration as the asshole laughed his ass off.

A hand was clamped over my mouth. I turned and noticed it was the southern guy to blame. The physical contact between his hand and my mouth however, shut Edward up quicker than a guy running to open his tax refund.

"We don't wanna attract strangers. You cool, darlin'?" he asked, tilting his head to indicate his hand. I managed to nod yes while maintaining eye contact with him. He had very pretty gray eyes that were filled with kindness and a touch of mischief. His blond hair was a little greasy from not being washed, but so was mine. I could see Edward scowl from the corner of my eye.

"Hey, you wanna keep your hands to yourself?" Edward asked him.

Before we could all get into any further fights, I turned on Nessie and continued down the road to the house. We arrived back at the house sometime in the afternoon when the sun had started it's descent from it's highest point. There were no zombies standing around, or hiding for that matter, and no humans either. I managed to catch Alice's gaze from the small attic window and indicated with my fingers for her to come down to help. Much to my biggest surprise, Emmett opened the door for us.

No hellos were passed by, as everyone worked diligently to unload Nessie and get back into the safety of the house. Once the door was closed however, everyone greeted each other with enthusiasm and happiness. Charlie and Emmett were fine and Jacob was recovering from his wounds without any setbacks. I had not been very touchy-touchy with Emmett, but I was so happy to see him non-zombified that I basically threw myself into his big, beefy arms.

"Good grief, Freckles. It's so jelly beans to see you're fine!" he exclaimed, hugging my rag doll body around the room.

"Did you just call me Freckles?" I asked breathlessly once he put me down. No one had ever called me that. There had always been Bella, Bells, B, or Isa; but never Freckles.

"Sure did, Freckles. Cause you got some of 'em right there." His beefy sausage of a finger landed on the bridge of my nose. I waited as he dragged it across one cheek to the other before I smacked his hand away. His fingers stank badly, rivaling Alice's on a bad day.

"Your finger stinks, man."

"Of course it does. There's no water so we haven't been able to wash anything."

_What the... no water? _"Please tell me that you're left handed," I pleaded, not at all concerned with the fact that we had no water to drink anymore, only with not having water to wash anything – especially Emmett – since he was known to participate in self-gratification from time to time.

"Well..." he drawled thinking, as he taped his chin with his right fingers. "I am right handed, but I do use the left when the right gets tired."

_And no water to wash that off... _I shuddered at that thought and turned my head to the nearest container as a wave of nausea hit me hard.

That was all I needed to hear before I emptied out the contents of my last snickers bar in to the fake plant by the side table. I could hear someone in the background gagging at my actions which only caused me to get even more grossed out and gag some more. It was a vicious cycle that was broken when an irritated Edward ended up carrying me outside to finish my dry heaving.

"Jesus almighty. I thought it was never going to end back there," he murmured as he held my long braid away from my face.

"Me either. That was so fucking disgusting. His finger..." I stopped as I continued to dry heave as the memory of the smell was ingrained inside my nostrils. I tried so badly to ignore the way that Edward's chest heaved as he tried to hide his gaging instincts to my actions. I moved away from him and and sat down on the back porch steps, lowering my head between my knees; I concentrated on singing songs in my head as I took deep cleansing breaths. The songs helped to distract me of anything and everything around me besides breathing; focusing on mundane things was the key, at least, that always worked with my severe motion sickness.

"Do you feel better?" he whispered from behind me.

Sometime while I was singing Barney's I love you and Twinkle Twinkle little star, he situated himself directly behind me, with me between his legs as he casually wrapped his arms around my waist. This was an intimate act, one that left me confused. Wasn't this the way that lovers behave, because if that was the case, than that wasn't us, especially with 'Mr. I can't finish the word boyfr.' I gently tried to remove his arms from around my waist but he wouldn't budge.

"Why are you always trying to run away from me?" he asked, pulling me tighter against him.

"Why are you always leeching your body to mine?" I wiggled my back away from his chest.

"Cause you're hot." I groaned as he pulled me tighter against him and rubbed his hard-on on my ass.

"No, cause you're a leech. Am I your girlfriend?" I stilled my movements to catch his reaction.

He stiffened from behind, blowing out a deep sigh. "Did you just call me a leech?"

"Did you just avoid answering the question?"

He hesitated for a couple of seconds before answering. "Yes."

I groaned and squirmed my body away from his and stood up feeling angry. Edward was good looking, no... make that Adonis- I wanna lick you from head to toe and fuck you nice yummy-good. But, I also knew that with the lack of girls around, I was his only choice, something I wasn't too happy about but giddy inside over it. Men like him never noticed me, proof of that was when we first met, before all this hell hole broke loose. He didn't so much as look at me then, did he? I wanted him to like me because of me, not because there was a lack of options.

It was easier to hate him at the moment than feel sad and dejected.

"Don't, okay. Don't think you can come and touch me whenever the hell you want just because you think you can. I realize that your choices have dwindled down, but I am not going to be last choice, Edward. I want to be someone's first and only choice. Don't think that you can just tell other guys that they can't touch me either because you and I are nothing to each other. You couldn't even call me a girlfriend, not that I am anyways. The point is, you have to back off. Stop playing around with me. Plus, we hate each other an..."

"You think I hate you? That you are my last and only choice?" he asked, standing up to his full height and glaring down on me.

"Aren't I?"

He shook his head as to deny any of it.

"Then what am I to you, Edward? Am I your girlfriend? Lover? Friend with benefits until another comes along?"

"You're... Fuck! Why are you making everything so difficult? Why do girls always have to put label on everything?" He paced the small porch, pulling his hair in every direction. His face would go from a red color to purple and back to red again. Whatever he was trying to say, was too hard for him to say it and that was enough for me.

"It's not that we need to put labels on everything, at least not when it doesn't matter. But this..." I swept my hand between him and me "...matters. Because wether you want to admit it or not, we are attracted to each other, but... there seems to be more men than women at the moment and chances are I will meet someone who won't have such a hard fucking time to admit that they actually like me for me. And when that guy makes his intentions clear, I don't want to have in the back of my mind wether Edward will get angry or not. Do us a favor, okay. Think about what it is that you really want, but please, leave me out of it until you decide otherwise. Stop fucking with my head, Edward."

I left him outside the porch, and that was where he stayed during the majority of daylight. When darkness fell, he retreated to his little makeshift bed in a corner farthest away from mine; he pretended to fall asleep and so no one bothered him.

Inside the house the ambience was one of happiness. They were laughing at some of the things I had gotten and groaned at others, specially the diapers. That night though, Rosalie had a major set back, one that none of the girls had remembered about. Our monthly penance to God, arrived starting with her. We didn't have any pads or tampons in our supplies though. She tried toilet paper but stopped immediately as soon as she began to walk down the stairs. The diapers came in handy when I grabbed one and cut out the shape of a normal pad and handed it to her along with a piece of double sided tape. She took it as if it would bite her but soon walked down the stairs looking much more happy. No one dared say anything about the diapers after that.

Another thing that was making everyone happy was the arrival of our new guests. There was the southern guy who Edward had proclaimed enemy #1; his name was Jasper and Alice had taken claim to him immediately, just as I had predicted.

"My gosh, Bells. When I said to bring me back a dildo I never imagined you would find me a live one," she gushed with delight.

"That's cause I didn't bring you a live one. Here..." I tossed the purple bullet vibrator – batteries included – that I had found for her. She stared at it as if she had never seen one before with a crestfallen face.

"You mean to tell me that Jasper is not for me?"

"No, Alice, he's not for you. So please let the poor man go." I indicated to the arm that she had a death grip hold on and watched in amusement as he let out a grateful sigh and wink in my direction as he walked away next to Emmett.

"Seriously, Alice. Sometimes you're too much." She took the vibrator anyways, and it also didn't escape her notice the wink he threw my way.

And so, we welcomed the rest of our guests, a priest by the name of Carlisle Cullen, and a … man/girl by the name of Michael/Michelle Newton. No one knew what to make of him. He was a man all right, but he was dressed in drag, complete with a brown wig that disturbingly enough resembled my hair.

The hidden room in the church had been a big surprise. It was a small storage room that was filled with nothing other than pornography pictures with various local men and women in compromising positions; it was the three tied men that had caught our attention.

Jasper was tied to a chair that had been tipped over behind the door. On the far side of the room was Father Carlisle who had also been tied up, but he had been blind folded with a tie. And lastly but certainly the most disturbing was the third male. Michael Newton was known around town for being a notorious womanizer, the one most responsible for the spread of STD's. So the biggest shocker had been to find him half dressed as a women; half because the bottom half of his outfit was missing, leaving him in only the brown wig, and a tight see through shirt that showcased an over-stuffed bra. He was also place on a table with his legs tied to each leg, spread wide.

During that time, we weren't sure what had happened to cause Michael/Michelle, Jasper and Carlisle to be placed in such positions, but we helped them anyways and brought them with us. There was no way we would be leaving anyone on their own.

Jasper had been a godsend, being able to help Rosalie fix our last generator. He also confessed that he came with a group of people who according to him were still hiding somewhere in a cave waiting for him to return. He had gone out to look for survivors and find out if help was coming, when he heard a commotion inside the church. He found a group of people struggling and when he tried to help, they locked him in the room with the other two.

Father Carlisle seemed to carry the world's weight on his shoulders. He claimed to have no knowledge of the room until the day that he was captured. The room had been a secret that apparently belonged to Father Felix and Michelle Newton, who had been caught during the act. The group of people who were using the church for shelter, stumbled their way to the room and decided to get rid of the duo. Father Carlisle didn't want bloodshed and was therefor considered an enemy. Jasper walked in during the scuffle and was locked inside with the priest and Michelle. Father Felix and the group of people were never seen again. That had been 4 days ago.

No one was really talking to Michael/Michelle, and he didn't seem to want to talk to anyone either since he stood by a corner and kept his head down. Jasper became friends with Emmett immediately, having military experience under their belts, they took out a map and planned a safe way for us to get to the cave where his family sat waiting. We couldn't exactly hide here for the rest of time. We needed a safer place to live, but not without his family first.

The next day came all too soon and Edward still refused to talk to me. Instead of joining us, he climbed on the roof top and perched himself there for his shift. Rosalie and Emmett seemed to finally become friends as she now joined him and Jasper in the planning. I had not seen Charlie and Sue all morning, but I wasn't too concerned about them since they usually preferred to spent time on their own. Jacob had managed to get Michael to talk to him and sat by his corner and chatted quietly amongst themselves. Alice and I cooked the last of our food and looked for bags to store all of our supplies in case we needed to escape during an emergency.

"Do you need help there."

I turned to see that Father Carlisle was gesturing to the stubborn bag that refused to close.

"Yes, thank you, Father Carlisle." I moved away from the bag to allow him room to help.

"You don't have to call me that anymore," he murmured.

I looked at him confused. Did he not want me to call him by his name, or the father part? "Uhm, just Father then?"

"No, especially not Father. That's not who I am anymore," he answered.

Well, that just confused me even more.

"I'm not a priest any more, Isabella. Is it alright if I call you by your full name? I find it a waste not to use a beautiful name like yours, why shorten it with anything less?"

Not being able to deny the Father anything – but mostly liking his reasons – I nodded my head. "What should I call you in return then?"

"You can call me, Carlisle," he said, struggling with the same bag. "I know it might seem strange to you to see a priest renounce his position but, it just seems as if God has been trying to stop me from taking the oath from the beginning, only I was just too stubborn to see it."

I stayed quiet as he continued to talk, somehow sensing that he needed someone to hear his confession instead for once.

"My father had always encouraged me to follow the steps of the Lord, even though the steps I wanted to follow were those of science. Not being one to disagree with my father, I succumbed to his orders. I took the priesthood and followed every regime that was demanded. I was tempted along the way in different ways, but mostly by lust. How could a priest be tempted by flesh? When I confided in Father, he assured me that the devil saw great potential in me and therefore would tempt be from the beginning, to derail me from my purpose. I should have maybe thought of the possibility that God was the one tempting me, warning me in some way that this was not my path. With everything that had been going on, the zombies and finding Father Felix in such position, has finally broken me. I don't have the faith to continue in my service. Father had been wrong all along. So now I ask you, Isabella. What am I suppose to do now? You all contribute to survive; what can I contribute in such times, a prayer that even I don't believe in?" He finished zipping the stubborn bag and sat down on the floor with his hands on his head; his shoulders were slumped in defeat.

This was such a broken man, one who needed to find himself again and I wasn't sure how to help him. "Carlisle, just because this priesthood didn't work out doesn't mean that you are a failure. Zombies existing is not your fault, Father Felix boning Michelle's backside is not your fault either." I waited, heaving a sigh of relief as he chuckled at my comment. "I think that above all, you should be grateful that you figured this out now than 30 years later in a rather perfect world. Anyways, no one is asking you to do anything. If you can read a map, fine. If you know how to cook, fine. Even if all you can do is offer someone is an ear to listen to, even that would be good too. No one is asking you to pray with us, okay. So in this new world, maybe you can finally find out who you really are, even if that means that you want to be a singer and we have to hear horrible renditions of 'I Will Survive'; I'm sure we could all laugh every now and then."

His chuckle lifted my soul more than he would have ever known. He had a presence about him, and he should never feel sad. I remembered promising myself to make Edward laugh more, and then I remembered yesterday. I replaced that promise with a new one. I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to help Carlisle find his way, to help him find his place in this new world.

If Edward wasn't willing to have me in his life 100 percent, than I wasn't willing to wait for him until he was ready either.


	13. Cliques

**Chapter 13 Cliques**

**A/N :** **Thank you for all the reviews and support you guys have given the story. Welcome new readers! This chapter was getting wayyyyy long so I had to cut it down, seriously. Remember, when you guys read play it your head like movie, it's all fun. This chapter comes with a warning for language, gore, and a little death. You've been warned. Same disclaimers apply, already posted in the first chapter. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

**BPOV**

When I was in elementary school, I loved to learn, and getting an A for a job well done was pretty amazing too. I loved earning praise from the teachers, specially when they were classified as hard-to-please. And I loved that Alice was with me since the beginning, always together – wether we were in trouble or not – we were always together.

In middle school things changed. Being smart wasn't cool anymore, having a boyfriend was. Other things that changed, were friendships. Alice and I always hanged out with a group of four other girls. Gabrielle was the shy girl who always hanged out with boys, a tomboy she would call herself, a flirt the girls would call her. JoAnn had crushes on any guy that any of us girls confessed to like, and somehow, we were always at fault for not telling her sooner, before she liked him. Sherilynn was the spoiled brat with divorced parents who fought for her affection through Hello Kitty. Diane was our Switzerland, always listening to us bicker and never taking sides, but she wasn't afraid to tell you if you were wrong either. We stuck together, all through middle school, fights, reconciliations, and even more fights; but always together. We weren't the cool kids or even the nerds. We were always in between, able to hang out with either clique and still be us.

High school changed all that. Sherilynn moved to our rival school on the other end of the main street that divided districts. We saw her during the football games, but that was the end of that friendship. JoAnn ended up going to that school too; that friendship ended when she started dating a boy from our school. His girlfriend at our school made everyone's life hell, including us for being JoAnn's friend to begin with. After that fiasco, things changed even more. Diane and Gabrielle became almost as close as Alice and I, only difference was that they could turn on each other just as fiercely. Those friendships ended when they had Alice and I choose between them two; apparently Gabrielle had been too flirty with Diane's boyfriend, but according to Gabrielle she was just being friendly.

College brought in more friends, but even more issues that deal with more adult stuff. Needless to say, nothing much had changed, besides the fact Alice and I were sticking together like glue. Friends changed with cliques and many of those friendships never survived after college. Alice was my soul sister, sister from another mister; Alice has always been there, would always be there.

Apparently zombies changed that.

The house had become divided, just like in high school. No... scratch that. The house had turned into a fucking episode of The Real World. Jacob and Leah were not talking to each other anymore, the reason for that being, Michael. Somehow along the way, Michael had squirmed his way inside Jacob's little heart and Leah wasn't too happy about that friendship. Michael found in Jacob someone who could understand him, to a certain extent, and they became inseparable.

Emmett had become distant from Rosalie because she wouldn't let go the fact that he just wanted friendship. Leah and Rosalie formed their own little clique of revengeful- unwanted princesses. They bitched and moaned all day long and it was seriously causing migraines among everyone. My dad and Sue were keeping themselves locked inside their room, claiming that they were too old to be taking sides on anything.

Alice had scared Jasper so bad that first day that he was avoiding her, even worst than Emmett was avoiding Rosalie. When I asked him to give her a chance, he claimed that she looked too much like a little girl on speed to be taken serious. He said he wanted a women who could get down and dirty with the best of them, and Alice didn't 'meet those heights'. Asshole, charming asshole. Emmett and Jasper bonded through their girl troubles. With Emmett having military experience and Jasper having experience dealing with zombies first hand, they became our leaders.

Edward and Alice were becoming close, too close for my liking. Besides, he didn't approach me anymore. What bothered me the most was that when Jasper flirted with me, Edward turned a blind eye to it, or more exactly acted like if he didn't give a shit. It pissed me off that he could just disregard everything he had done to me, that he could disregard me like that, without caring. What Edward didn't see was that Jasper only did it to piss him off, because even though Jasper didn't want anything with Alice, it still didn't stop him from looking her way.

Jasper's attention towards me pissed of Alice greatly, to the point that our once strong bond wasn't strong anymore. It was very sad to see that our friendship was fractured. I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't hear any of it. How could one man change years of trust and love? I felt like I didn't have any anymore, not with my shadow gone.

Carlisle became a very good friend to me, to the point that I was really starting to see him as a father figure. Carlisle was still young at the ripe age of 27, and he was very handsome with his blond hair and perfect posture. He became my confidante in everything; he became my new Alice. He even tried to talk some sense into her but in true Alice form, she disregarded his advice. Alice relied in proof not talk, and right now proof showed that I had Jasper's interest.

Besides having all the little cliques at home, things outside became even more tense. People started showing up. Not inside our home, but in our town. These people were not the type you wanted to find either. They were cruel, with no sight of humanity left in them. From what we were able to observe, they had a truck with them that was full with girls that varied all ages. The girls looked haggard, tired, as if they had been through he'll and back.

We weren't sure what to make of the arrivals, but one thing was clear: we were not going to make ourselves known unless it was necessary. Jasper wanted to leave and find his family immediately, but with the bonds formed with the household, cliques and all, he wanted to take us. We on the other hand, wanted to stay where we were, until it was necessary to leave. In the meantime, we made up a team to follow the group and see how they acted when they thought no one was around. We formed a surveillance group.

We all dressed in black and made the decision to travel in the night, the group would be too aware of us during the day. We were very afraid because the zombies could see and kill us before we would even notice they were there. According to Jasper who once worked with them, in order to understand their vision we would have to use night-vision goggles; they had perfect vision at night, but once the light emerged, everything went white to them, a bright light that blinded them. When Jacob still didn't understand, Jasper turned off all the lights and waited until Jacob's eyes adjusted to the dark. He then told him to pretend that it was daylight, and then without warning and much to our fucking amusement, he turned on the side lamp and almost shoved it in front of his face. Jacob staggered back like a moron and fell on his back as his arms flailed around him. It was an obvious choice for him to stay back.

The group that was sent out to investigate consisted of Jasper, Emmett, Alice, Charlie and me. We were the best with weapons and we each had a special ability; besides having weapons and special abilities, we also had melee weapons. Jasper was the brains and the one in command, being able to think fast was his strong point; he carried an axe. Emmett was able to handle the big weapons and carry the heavy sledge hammer. Alice was special with the taser gun, and had the ability to fit in small spaces; she carried a shovel to make up for her height. Charlie was good at shooting his guns, and for once in his life, he was happy to not be the one responsible of a group; he carried a crowbar. And finally there was me. I'm good at climbing and being still for a long time; my weapon was a machete I found in our neighbor's shed. If there was one thing I learned from watching zombie movies, it was that melee weapons were better than guns, the best being a machete.

Walking in the dark had to be the scariest thing I had ever done in my life. There was growling everywhere and no matter how close we stayed with your backs to a flat surface, you always felt that they were going to attack you from behind. We maintained a straight line with our weapons always at the ready. No one had their guns ready; we were keeping those safe for later. We were each equipped with silent weapons.

We ran into a few zombies along the way, but we quickly disposed of them before they could attract a horde. It was amazing the amount of zombies that were not present. I was afraid to know what had actually happened to all the residents of Forks. Did they escape while I hid in my basement? Were they rescued? Or, were they blown away by some of the bombs? I tried really hard no to think about them much, I had more than enough people to worry about at home.

After we had jogged for about twenty minutes and ten houses later, we ran in to our first obstacle. There were about eight or nine zombies huddled around a group of people inside a minivan. They were surrounding it, shaking it from side to side, reminding me of some riot footage I saw when some team won the championship. There was screaming coming from inside the van, but what worried and disgusted me the most, was the fact that I was worried that if the person inside didn't shut up soon, they would attract a bigger horde and we would get caught. I was worried about my team and not some stranger.

_I can't function with this fear, shit... think... think...oh!... 1...2...3...4...5..._I sighed.

I let the feelings of disgust and fear run deep, consume me for five whole seconds before letting them wash out of my system. Pure relief and then calm remained. "Fuck, this does work," I muttered to myself, amazed that it had actually worked.

"What worked?" asked Jasper.

The zombies were so loud in the snarls and focused on their meal that they didn't even notice us yet. The wind was blowing our way, which was good or else they would have smelled us already.

Alice giggled quietly before she whispered to Jasper the reason for my comment, something which she had continually tried before and succeeded. "Have you ever seen the show Lost, Jasper?" When he shook his head no she continued. "The main character Jack once told the a girl he liked named Kate, that when he gets scared or panics during a surgery, he closes his eyes and counts to five and lets whatever emotion he's feeling to run freely in his system. After he counts to five, he let's go of all feelings and he's able to focus and work on finishing the surgery. I didn't believe it would work but I tried it once during a hard time at work and I have never looked back," she confirmed with a nod of her head.

He cocked his head to the side as he silently questioned me if she was serious. All I could do was nod yes because it really fucking worked. _Thank you Lost, no... thank you Jack Shepard!_

"Sshhhhhhhhhhhh," hissed Emmett, who was currently in the lead followed by Charlie, me, Alice and then Jasper taking the back. "We have to help those people inside the van. We're not cold-blooded, we help."

Was I the only one who didn't want to help? It seemed like it, but shit... who was I turning into? This wasn't me, this uncaring person. On one side the angel was chastising me for my reluctance to help those people who were obviously about to be murdered. On the other side was the devil, who wasn't paying much attention to me, instead she was rushing me to keep going and not look back. I ignored the devil and agreed with everyone instead, causing the devil to kick my shoulder.

"Heres what we're gonna do," whispered Jasper. "Emmett, you got the sledgehammer so you're gonna go around to the other side and hit as many of those fuckers on the head and fast, just swing it man. Charlie, the crow bar is not gonna help much so you're gonna double check that ones the we hit are really dead. Meanwhile, the rest of us will take the ones left on our side. Try to surround them as much as possible. Hit 'em and move to the next one. Got it?"

I didn't really get it, but I nodded anyways, the odds weren't really on our side and the zombies relied on their brute strength. We walked along the side of the house we were hiding by and waited for Emmett to go around the house so that we could attack from the other side before the wind blew his scent to the horde. Just as a gust of wind blew his way and their heads snapped up towards Emmett's direction, the rest of us charged silently and banged our melee weapons against as many heads as fast as possible.

The crunching sounds the machete made against the head of a young girl zombie were disgusting, reminding me of the sounds two walnuts made when crushed together, only more squishy and wet. The smell coming off the wounds was similar to the smells coming off the huge dumpsters inside the city's alleys. The machete got stuck inside the head of an old man I struck on the back. When I tried to dislodge it, it wouldn't budge. I tried to put force behind my movements but nothing happened until Emmett struck his sledgehammer on top of his head, bringing me down with the zombie. Once I got up, I placed my foot on the back and was finally able to pull it out. There was no blood anywhere, instead there was a thick grey-gooey substance replacing it.

"Don't touch the grey stuff," whispered-yelled Jasper. "It turns you into them if it gets inside your blood stream."

We all stepped back away from it immediately, except for Charlie who continued to struck the zombies to make sure that they stayed down. Alice kept watch around us to make sure that we had not attracted any more of them. Once we pulled the zombies away from the minivan and to the side of the street, we were able to focus on helping the people inside the van.

I wished we had never helped them.

There were three bodies inside the van: one alive, one undead, and one dead. The front seat was occupied by a crying mom who was blubbering for us to save her babies. Her clothes were ripped in several places, with scratches that rang along her neck and face. There was growling coming from the back seat that immediately put us in alarm. The back seat had two car seats that were both occupied. I held back a sob as I realized that one of them had a dead infant no more than a year old. The baby was missing a huge piece of meat from his left chubby leg. His body was really pale with several veins that were visible in several colors. It was apparent that the baby had been bitten but had not survived the change.

Next to the baby's car seat was a toddler's seat with a young little girl, no more than four years old, who was chewing on a severed arm. It wasn't hard to guess that the mom had somehow gotten body parts and was feeding her zombie daughter to keep her nourished. Her eyes were so red and they almost seemed like they glowed. There was flesh underneath her fingernails, along with several bites on her arms. Either she was bitten several times by zombies and it caused her change, or she has been biting herself with food runs short.

No one said anything as the girl threw away the arm she had been chewing on the floor – mostly bone with a few pieces of tendons and muscle attached – and tried in vain to get out of her restrains. The mom immediately went to the back of the van where she had more body parts and grabbed another arm to replace the one she had thrown. The little girl immediately latched her mouth on the skin and began chewing it. The body must not have been that old because there was still blood dripping from the open wounds.

"We have to kill her," I heard myself say.

"Ah... um...yeah, okay," Alice said as tears streamed down her face.

"I'll do it." We all turned to see my dad who was readying his gun with a silencer. _When the hell did he get a silencer?_

"No, no, no! She's my baby and she just needs to eat... she's just a little girl. Look, look..." the mother gestures towards the seat belts, "... she can't get away so she won't be any trouble, I swear!" she cried. Her movements were frantic, and if we were honest with ourselves, she was past the point of being neurotic.

There was a glint coming from her left hand every time the light from the lamp post would catch it, her wedding band. In a very fucking disturbing and bile churning coincidence, it matched the wedding band on the hand that the little girl was munching on. _Oh My God! She's fucking eating her dad! No, no way, there is no way the lady could have killed her husband just to feed her demon child._

"Uh, ma'am?" I waited until I had her attention, and everyone else. "Wh... who exactly does that arm belong to?"

The arm in question became the focus of everyone as they were all able to make the same connection I had. I heard as Emmett cursed and Jasper guided Alice to the side as she continued to vomit.

"Oh, oh. My husband, but he was already dead. We were following a lot of cars and when we stopped at Port Angeles for camp they noticed that my little Evelyn was sick and they tried to take her away from me and then they... they..." she stopped, her cries making her choke a bit, "... he tried to stop them and they shot him. They left us there... all alone. I chopped him up with a kitchen knife I had in my bags. Evelyn was getting restless with hunger. I know my David would have wanted it that way."

We continued to stand there and stare as the mom leaned down and kissed the head of the baby boy, as she caressed his cheek so lovingly that it broke my heart just to think of what this woman was going through at the moment. It's one thing to know that you're babies are dead, and to know where they are buried; but to have to drive around with them because our world is over run by fucking demons and bad people... there were no words. She leaned over his body, entered the minivan and closed the door. She sat in between the two car seats and snatched the arm away from the girl only to remove her husband's wedding band and place it on her thumb. The demon kid growled and snatched the arm back, but instead of continuing to eat, she threw it on the floor and grabbed her mom's arm and bit her forearm instead. I expected the mom to scream bloody murder, but she just continued to sob and hug the girl's head to her chest.

_She's giving up..._

I couldn't' take it any more. I threw up all over myself. Emmett walked over to me and took me inside the nearest house where Jasper followed soon with a crying Alice. Oh my god, she kept chanting over and over again. My throat was too closed up to even contemplate speaking again. I fought the nausea before it could completely take over and just leaned my forehead against the cool glass window. My eyes were closed and even though the night was still very cool and cold, there was sweat on my forehead.

Pum... Pum...silence...

Charlie walked inside the house and unloaded his backpack on a sofa. "I, uh... took care of it, I mean them," he muttered.

"What do we do now?" I asked, still keeping my eyes closed. "I mean, do we continue and go find out more about these people, do we make camp here and wait until tomorrow night, or do we just go home and try another day?"

"Do we even want to know who those people are?" questioned Alice. "They left those people without help."

"Of course they did," answered Emmett. "They had a fucking zomkid."

"So you're saying that you would just left them there, without protection? They were just kids..."

"No, Alice. The kid was fucking zombie, get that through your head... a zombie, not a kid. You let that thing loose and it wouldn't think twice to bite your arm like it did to it's own mom."

"I agree," Jasper said. "I would have done the same thing. Only, I would have killed the mom too."

Alice gasped, appalled that her Jasper could kill innocents.

"So, ah... what do we do?" I asked again before we got in to an argument.

"I say we continue since most of us agree that we would have done the same thing regarding the family. Let's just go see these people and go back to the shelter and get it over with."

Alice reluctantly agreed to go with us but only because she didn't want to go back home alone. We were all antsy to be out in the open with big targets on our bodies. And then a thought occurred to me. The girl had been eating the flesh, but Jasper had mentioned that they only sucked out the blood. When I asked him about it, the only thing he could think of was that they were maybe evolving; evolving or that maybe because the girl was little her, body required more than just blood.

"Zombies are fucking zombies, end of questions," muttered and angry Emmett. "Why keep talking about them fuckers, let's go already."

And that was the end of all discussions for the rest of the trip. The trip wasn't a total loss in the long run because the house we were hiding in belonged to none other than Garrett Sims, and he was known for his extreme sports hobby. We ransacked his house for food, clothing, water and most importantly, silent transportation. We didn't exactly find the bicycles we were hoping for, instead we found something else...

"What the fuck are those?" asked Jasper.

"Ahhhh... where is the rest of it?" I asked, because really... where was the rest of it?

Alice chuckled form behind us only to laugh a full belly laugh later. "Oh, my goodness..." she gasped, holding on to her stomach. "Three grown men standing here completely clueless and yet the little girl knows more. How fucking ironic, isn't it, Jasper?"

He ignored her comment as he continued to walk around the room, checking out the transportation... if you could call them that.

"These my friends, are the motorcycles of the future," she proclaimed with a shit-eating grin.

"Yeah, okay... but where is the rest of it?" asked Charlie.

"These are it, dad. These are strong enough to hold even Emmett's weight. They're pretty silent because the motor is not that big, only problem with them is that it's battery operated and it only lasts about 1 ½ hours before you have to charge it again. They're called Ryno and they cost approx..."

"Where the hell did you learn all that?" asked a wide-eyed Jasper, as he ran his hand over the smooth curves of the golden bike.

"Youtube," she answered.

"Jesus, didn't you work, Alice?"

"Yes, Bella, I did. But when you know enough about fashion it doesn't take a genius to edit the work. Piece of cake."

_Fuck, I wish I had that much time to surf the internet, well... not that it matters now,_ I angrily thought.

We didn't take those, even though there were six of them. We didn't know how much battery life they had left so the risk was greater. In the end we ended up using the scooters that were hanged on a wall away from all the expensive bikes. They were not electrical or motorized, which was good because we would have to rely on ourselves and nothing more.

It was so hilarious to watch us all pedal down the street on our scooters. Alice looked even more like a little girl – only missing her pigtails – me, looking like a skater boy, all flat chested. Emmett looked like an over grown gorilla in a small cycle; there was Jasper, the army brat with an angry scowl on his face as he pedaled faster to get it over with. And finally my dad, an old man on a child's toy. Yup, we were the group to look out for, all fierce and loaded with guns and melee weapons cruising down the street on scooters.

We arrived in no time at all with our new transportation. It actually cut our time by half. Even though the town was small, everything was far away from each other on foot. We were able to locate the newcomers parked by the school. It seemed as if they were using the high school gymnasium for their new home.

Alice and I were sent in as scouts because we were the smallest and most agile to climb on a tree that was close enough to the windows to grant us a view of the inside. The men climbed the tree to its lowest branch; they were secure from being watched by any guards or any wandering zombies. Alice and I climbed to a very high branch leaving us to at least fifteen feet from the floor.

We were carrying our phones because even though they didn't have service, the cameras still worked and they had zoom action available. It was very hard to see at first, our eyes had to get used to the lights coming from inside. The gym was the size of a normal high school gym and these people were occupying every space available. They had more people than we had thought possible thinking twenty at the most, but there must have been at least fifty people in there. There were blankets in random sections of the floor and clear areas that were obviously for kitchen and bathroom use. People were walking aimlessly around, mostly the women as the men kept seated on some of the sleeping bags.

Nothing seemed out of place, except for a few of the girls who looked nervous or about to be sick. But then, without warning it happened...

I held on to the branch as Alice kept recording with her small camera phone, unable to unglue her eyes from the window. The noises from inside the gym were disgusting, worst than the noises from the van incident.

"What's going on?" whispered-yelled Jasper without looking at us. His eyes were focused on the floor behind us.

Without talking to the guys, we put our phones away and climbed down as fast as we could. We didn't answer the guys, only ran to the scooters and pedaled home as fast as possible. It was obvious that boys were itching for answers, specially since we were going really fast and ignoring the horde of zombies that were following us.

The only thought that kept going through my head, and nothing else was... _We are not like them. We are not like them at all. _


	14. Faces We See, Hearts We Don't See

**Chapter 14 – Faces We See, Hearts We Don't See**

**Disclaimer: The usual disclaimer applies. Stephenie still owns all Twilight.**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! Many things happened, among them, someone hacked in to my computer and stole some work I had already done, from this story and my other one called Taken. It took a while for me to finish this chapter again. Sorry. As far as you guys go, thanks so much for your support and reviews. This chapter takes a turn of events, it forces our characters to move forward, and... we are about 1 chapter away from where the prologue takes place. So please leave me a few lines and I'll catch you all next time. Question: If you had the opportunity to have either Rob or Taylor during an apocalypse, who would you choose?**

**Warning: This chapter contains bad language and scenes not suitable for children under the age of 18. Viewer discretion is advised.**

* * *

**BPOV:**

I had always been a thin person – flat stomach, toned arms and legs, size two. I had curves in all the right places, but most of all, I was proud of my body. I never felt the need to go to the gym either, thinking my good metabolism was the key for having a fit body. Finding myself so out of breath on the floor next to Alice, was proof enough that being slim didn't exactly mean you were healthy.

The ride back to the house was strenuous. We weren't worried about the zombies that were chasing us. Fuck them! We were worried about being caught by the people in the gym. We didn't talk on the way home, that good would that have done? But they guys made it perfectly clear that they wanted answers. After all, that's why we went there in the first place.

"Wha-what happened... ba-back there?" asked Charlie, also out of breath.

It seemed as if the only fit ones from our little group were Jasper and Emmett, who were currently taking care of the zombies that followed us, along with Jacob and Edward.

I shook my head no, hoping he would understand that, what I was really saying was, 'hold on, can't talk, I can barely breath.'

He didn't understand me, since he kept insisting through panting, that I recount what it was that made us pedal so fast. Instead of answering him verbally, I handed him my phone. The men returned back to the house and joined us on the floor, where the the rest of the residents sat around us. Someone handed me a water bottle, and I drank from it greedily without bothering to check if I had to share with someone else.

Charlie struggled with the phone's functions, before finally giving up with a huff, and threw it to Edward's waiting hands. At Jasper's insistence, Alice gave him her phone also. Everyone in the room huddled close around the guys, to catch a glimpse of the videos. I didn't want to see it again, because those images would be ingrained in my brain for a long, long time. Instead, I turned to my left – where Alice was lying down – and took a hold of her hand.

I could hear the phone's audio in the background, so I closed my eyes and squeezed Alice's hand softly. She would squeeze my hand back during certain sounds and vise versa. I ignored the gasps that rang through the small crowd, and thought back to what I had witnessed.

**Video ****Warning******

_**The gym's emergency lights were on, illuminating enough for the humans to see, without calling too much attention to the outside. There were several blankets scattered throughout the floor, some of them, already occupied by men. Some areas, were obviously the kitchen and bathroom.**_

_**All of the men, except for two, are wearing military uniforms: camouflage green cargo pants, tight black t-shirts, black combat boots. The other two men, were obviously civilians. One man was sitting around a make-shift bed, along with with a women close to his age and a younger girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen. The other guy, was more of a geek – with his huge black-rimmed glasses and business attire.**_

_**There were about twenty females, varied in different ages, from late twenties to early forty's. While the men sat and rested, the women walked around, setting up different areas and prepped for dinner. It reminded me so much of a week ago, when the men in our group wouldn't let the women cooperate unless it was food related. Things looked calm enough, until one of the girls brought a plate of food to one of the guys on the floor.**_

_**She looked nervous as she walked close to him. Just as she was about to hand him his plate, he yanked it out of her hand, and threw her on top of his blankets face down. The girl screamed and squirmed – trying to get away from him – while the guy simply lifted her skirt above her waist and lowered his pants. She let out another scream as he entered her from behind.**_

_**Surprisingly enough, no one even seemed to notice what was happening just a few feet away from them. For a splitting second I thought, 'Maybe that's their thing, maybe they are a couple and do this often.' But that thought left just as soon as another guy joined the duo.**_

_**The women scattered away from the blankets as the men descended upon them. When it was obvious that there were no more girls left – except for the family and the geek – the men went after them, too.**_

_**The family man was torn away from his wife and was forced down to the floor, his head lifted up in the air, as two of the men took the wife and daughter, next to each other. The dad thrashed on the floor and screamed for them to leave them alone, to kill him and not touch his family. His cries died down when one of the men hit him in the head with the end of a huge rifle.**_

_**The geek received the same treatment as the women did.**_

_**The men seemed to switch, from one women another, once they were done with the deed. The act reminded me of the speed dating Alice had forced me to attend with her many times before.**_

_**My dinner threatened to come up, when one of the men, undressed the dad from head to toe. Once he was naked – and the pool of blood continued to increase – they began to cut him up in different pieces, very much the same as the crazy lady from the mini van.**_

_**I didn't think they realized that there was a huge possibility that the dad wasn't dead from the head injury just yet. But that didn't seem to matter to them as they continued to dismember him. The guts being pulled out of his body, to be placed on a nearby table, was the last straw for me. I didn't need to see more, to know that they were cannibals. And unless, one of the military men were really fond of the geek, he would soon join the dad's fate.**_

_**That was when we ran.**_

_****** **_**End of Video****_ ****_**

I opened my eyes, squinting as the bright light hurt my eyes, and looked around the room. I was back in my old room, lying down next to a still sleeping Alice. I nudged her with my arm, willing her to wake up. She groaned and tossed, before turning her back to me, sticking her butt out. I rolled my eyes, thinking that any other time, I would have thought this to be super adorable, and most likely wrapped my arms around her. But today, in light of recent events, and not having any more coffee, I kicked her off the bed by literally nudging her off with my foot.

She landed with huff, groaned, and then glared. Her eyes had dark circles under them, all of her hair was pointing to one side, and she had a small trail of dried saliva down her chin.

"Well, good morning to you, too," she sneered.

I gave her the finger and shrugged. "Be happy that the bed is only one foot from the ground."

"That still doesn't lessen my pain."

"Either way, you're up. Let's go downstair and find everyone." I started towards the door, but stopped when it finally hit me. "How did we end up here, in my room? Last I remember, everyone was watching the video down stairs."

"That's because you fell asleep while everyone watched the video. They were gonna leave you there, but Eddie carried you up here. Me, being the considerate little person that I am, decided to stay with you, so you wouldn't feel all alone. Not that you're gracious about it anyway."

"What the fuck ever," I muttered.

"What is your problem?" she asked, standing straight in all her four foot eleven inches of glory.

"My problem? I don't have a problem. Why, do you?"

"No, I don't. But you do!"

"I don't have a problem, Alice. Back the fuck up!"

"You're the one coming on to me, so you must have a problem!"

"Aaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhh! I. Don't. Have. A..."

"Problem?" finished a male voice from behind me.

I turned quick, only to catch my foot on the blanket on the floor and fall down on my ass. I stayed still, trying to process what the hell was going on. This was ridiculous. The whole situation between Alice and I fighting. What were we fighting about? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I started to laugh hard, those kind of laughs between a snort and a guffaw – not at all giggles, or remotely lady-like.

Alice soon joined me in on the laughter, sitting down next to me on the floor. Laughing soon turned in to crying, not the kind with silent tears streaming down my beautiful face, but the kind where it's beyond a sob with snot streaming down my nose. Alice, joined in too. We hugged and said sorry, for being stupid and fighting over nothing. Sorry for letting things get in between us, and sorry just because we could be.

Edward cleared his throat from the door way, capturing our attention from each other. His hand raked his disheveled hair, as the other rubbed his stomach at the same time.

_Don't monkeys do that?_ I snorted at that image in my head. _Yeah, they definitely do that._

"I don't ever want to witness **that** again." He shuddered dramatically. "When you guys are done being all emotional, come downstairs, everyone's waiting on you two."

After cleaning up as much as we could, considering we had to share half a water bottle to clean our faces and brush out teeth, we walked downstairs with out hands clasped together. We made a promise – more like we reminded each other of the promise – to always stay together no matter what.

We earned curious stares from everyone. Some of envy – Rosalie. Some of lust – Jasper – yeah, not happening. And some of happiness – Charlie – because he hated when Alice and I fought. Everyone was scattered throughout the small living room, mostly in pairs, except for Carlisle who sat alone in the reclining chair. I felt bad for him, because he still fought with his inner demons of right and wrong. I could only provide so much support, because I had my own demons going on. My angel and devil always fight for dominance, not to mention the biggest demon of all, named Edward Masen.

I let go of Alice's hand and sat by the reclining chair next to Carlisle. I smiled slightly as he patted me in the back, his way of showing emotion in front of Charlie. He didn't want my dad to feel bad, that he was in a way replacing him the the daddy department. Although, it was sad to admit, that he already had in such a short amount of time. Charlie would always be my father, because I was a part of him. But Carlisle, had quickly snagged a very special place in my heart.

"What do we do?" I questioned. Might as well kill the elephant now than later.

"We hide!" exclaimed Alice.

No one seemed too thrilled with Alice's idea. I wasn't either. I wanted to go back and burn the place down after rescuing those girls. God! Those girls. Who knows how many nights they have spent similar to the one we witnessed. But at the same time, I agreed with Alice. What if we got caught? What if our lives ended in the hands of those assholes and they used us for sexual services. I would rather die a million deaths than be used like that.

"We have to save them! We can't just stay here and do nothing!"

_Thank you Rosalie! Always the voice of reason._

"And do what exactly? It's five of us – no disrespect Carlisle, but I doubt you would want to shoot a gun – against thirty military trained men!" Emmett pointed out.

"None taken," Carlisle murmured back.

"Five of us!" exclaimed Rosalie. "There are six and half men and five and half girls. Sorry, Mike, but unless you declare if you want to be a girl or a guy you don't fully count on either side and y..."

"Jesus, Rosalie! Can you be any more blunt!" Alice screeched.

"Why, yes I can, actually."

"Save it, alright," I said, pointing at both Alice and Rosalie. "What we need to do, is get the hell out of here. As much as this place was safe for us, it simply isn't anymore. This house is too small for us anyway. Plus, Jasper, didn't you say you had people waiting for you back at some cave with supplies?"

Jasper stepped away from Emmett with a huge grin on his face, no doubt still thinking about Alice and I together in some form. "Why, yes I do, actually. They are waiting for me to return. Not only do we have supplies to last for a couple of months, but we also have a bus and RV with enough gasoline to get us somewhere safe."

"Is there somewhere safe?" questioned Leah. "I'm not saying that there isn't a place, but I'm seriously starting to doubt it. If we do go with your friends, who is to say that the place you guys have in mind isn't already crowded with zombies or more of those rapists? Heck, who knows what the hell is going on beyond Forks!" She started to ventilate towards the end of her speech.

Sue silently went to her daughter to comfort her.

I wanted to roll my eyes at her dramatics, but really, she could be right.

"We don't know what is out there," admitted Emmett. "But do you really just want to sit here and risk it anyways? How long before those douche...doughnuts come and finds us?"

I barely contained my snort at his change of a cuss word.

"Look," I said, before everything got out of hand. "We, and I mean everyone, will pack as much as we can and we are gonna book it to the cave. If any of you, want to leave on your own, then do so. But the rest of you, be ready to leave by first light tomorrow morning. I don't want to hear any more theories, I don't want to hear any more suggestions; we are leaving and that is it. Agreed?"

Stunned faces looked back at me, hell, even I was surprised at myself. But really, if anyone would say something else, I would surely loose it. Everyone agreed to go with the exception of Charlie and Sue. I was flabbergasted, that my own father was essentially ditching me – his own daughter – to stay here with Sue instead.

"Hear me out first," he insisted. "I'm old, Bella..." he put his hands up in defense before I could answer to that statement, "Sue and I, are getting old and there is no way that we could simply travel with a group of young people. We would only slow you down. As much as it hurts me to admit it, you are a grown woman now, you have to make your own life now."

"My own life? What the hell, Dad! I have been living my own life. The only reason I'm here now is because we came to check on you. You can't just decide you want to stay because your wife decides she wants to stay in this shitty little town. There isn't anything left here, Charlie. There are no neighbors, there is no more store, and there certainly is no police work. Come with us," I pleaded.

Sue stood next to him grabbed his hand in what I assumed was for support, but came off more as in defiance. They looked at each other and had some sort of stupid silent conversation, before he shook his head no. I wanted to punch him so badly at the moment, punch some sense in to that head of his. But mostly, I wanted to knock the bitch out. As if sensing my anger, Leah came to stand next to her mother, daring me to hit her. I wasn't about to tell her that I would lay it on her too, but Carlisle – of all people – took a hold of my arm and pulled me backwards.

"You are going to regret this, Charlie. In a few weeks, you're gonna see how there is nothing left for you here. You're gonna see how you should have followed us."

"Then, when that time comes, I will follow you," he whispered, avoiding my face.

"And when that time comes, because it will, how will you know where to follow us? Would you like me to send you telegram somehow? Oh, no! Maybe I should start training pigeons, it's worked before so why not now?"

"Stop being so immature, Bella," scolded Sue.

"I'm being immature? Okay, how about this... this is a conversation between a and b, so c your way out of it," I sneered, acting completely the way you accused me of.

"Don't talk to my mom that way you bitch!" Leah yelled, taking a step towards me and completely blocking Sue from my view.

It became a silent show of support, of who was staying and who was leaving, taking sides with either Charlie or me. Leah, decided to stay with her mom. Jacob, with great reluctance and a lot of encouragement from Leah, decided to stay too. Mike, his ever faithful friend, decided to stay, much to Leah's annoyance. Behind me was everyone else, making Jasper again our silent leader.

I had a feeling that this was the last time I would be seeing Charlie, if ever. I needed to make sure he heard my feelings one last time. "You are ditching, Charlie. You are doing to me what you already did once before. You chose your career and town over me and Renee. And now, you're choosing your town again, but this time instead of a job, you're choosing another women or your own flesh. You are my father, but you are no longer my dad. I hope you are able to live with that."

"For once in my life I'm being selfish. I'm choosing to not be alone. You will find a man to take care of you. The way I see it, you already have him standing behind you. You don't need me anymore. I'm..." he trailed off, walking down to the basement with Sue behind him.

Everyone remained relatively quiet after that, too afraid to say anything that would set me off. I noticed Mike fidgeting more than usual, but I reasoned it was because he wanted to be Michelle instead. Jacob and him had been whispering during most of the meeting, but no one seemed to catch them.

"What the hell are you hiding?" I asked, because I knew for sure they were hiding something.

The look of panic that crossed Mike's face was all the confirmation that I needed. He looked at Jacob, as if asking if he should tell me. Jacob just sighed and motioned with his hand for him to just say it. Mike took a couple of breaths before he finally spoke.

"Um, when you guys were off yesterday night, I took the radio with me to the bathroom, see if I could find someone in town with a radio too." He stopped talking when everyone looked at him with incredulous expressions. He swallowed again. "I... I might have heard something."

"Was it someone saying 'Help, Help?" asked Alice, thinking back to the message I had received before.

He looked confused before finally shaking his head. "No, actually it was more like a recording."

"What type of recording?" asked Jasper in his no-nonsense voice.

Mike began sweating profusely as Jasper towered over him. "I... u...it...s-s-said..." he trailed of before throwing him the walking talkie to his chest.

Jasper looked at the hand held device for a second, glared at Mike, and finally turned it on himself. It was a recording, very faint, with a lot of static in the background.

"This is Bravo Company, over, over. All survivors, there will be a plane leaving in 48 hours from Fairchild Intl. Airport in Port Angeles. Attention all survivors, there will be a plane leaving in 48 hours from Fairchild Intl. Airport in Port Angeles. Attention..."

The phrase kept repeating over and over. The message was loud and clear. Somewhere, there was help, and they were going to be in Port Angeles in forty-eight hours. The problem was, when was the dateline actually due? How long had the recording been playing for? What if the plane had already left while we were here playing detectives?

"There is only one way to find out," said Jasper. "As soon as light breaks out tomorrow, we will leave for the cave, gather everyone together, and travel for Port Angeles. Hopefully, they haven't left yet."

And hopefully, we would actually have a chance to live.


	15. Rescue

Disclaimer: Stephenie owns all things Twilight. I own nothing.

A/N: It's been a while since I updated this story. For some reason, the chapter wouldn't flow or real life would kick in. What I thought were weeks, turned into months...my apologies. On a happy note, this story is posted in The Lemonade Stand and it's one of the stories being rec. in their Lemons and Lore section. Ryden Dirtay has given the story an awesome review as well. So thanks guys, whoever it was that let them know over there this story exists. Hopefully this chapter is not a let down to the new readers. To the old ones, thanks for staying on board and waited for me to upload a new chapter.

Warning: This chapter has a mild graphic scene that leaves things to the imagination. It might cause triggers to a few, so read at your own discretion.

* * *

Chapter 15- Rescue

Leaving Charlie behind the next morning was not as hard as I thought it would be. I found it strange that while the few that were still alive were mourning their lost loved ones, I was forced to mourn my still breathing father. I was mad, and if I was honest with myself, I was a little happy. I was mad because he had chosen his new family over Alice and I... and yet, I was happy for the same reason. Leaving him behind meant leaving Sue, Leah, Jacob and Michael as well.

Our chances for survival had increased dramatically with them staying. I hated to think this way, but what other choice did I have? Charlie had made his choice, he forced my hand to move away and find another safe haven.

Forks had become infested by the army people and it was becoming harder to stay unnoticed. Our supplies were dwindling down to dangerous levels. It was very hard to ignore the cold looks we were given by Leah and Sue every time any person in my group grabbed and extra granola bar or an extra gallon of water.

It was ridiculous that I had to remind the damn harpies that it was my expedition into the wild that granted us the extra supplies. Even though most of our backpacks were already packed, I didn't hesitate to grab extra things that I was able to carry. Anything that would allow me to survive and extra day, I took it.

Saying goodbye was out of the question. As we left early the next morning, it was hard to ignore the way Charlie and Sue holed themselves in their room while our party left. Alice ended up taking it harder than I did, since Charlie was literally the only father figure she ever had in her life. He was mine, too, but I had found solace in Carlisle. He held my hand as we left the house and we approached the truck.

Nessie's back cabin was filled with all of our supplies, as well as the few scooters we took from Garrett's house. The plastic top was lowered and we were ready to go and find Jasper's family hiding in the cave.

There was only one problem left. In order to leave Forks, we had to pass by the school's gymnasium where all the military people were stationed. Knowing their type of behavior, and the way that they had violated those women, it wasn't hard to guess what would have happened to the girls in our group if we were discovered.

"What if the girls hid in the back with the supplies?" asked Emmett.

"How about you hide back there with the supplies and suffocate?" retorted Alice. "Plus, we all won't fit back there."

"Maybe we should just drive through really fast," I suggested.

Edward sighed and said, "That won't work. The moment they see the truck drive through they will get curious and send a vehicle after us. Then, we really won't have a chance against their weapons."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right... not that I would tell him anyways. Anyone would be curious as to who or what the car was hiding. I didn't think anyone wanted to take any chances.

"What if we disguise ourselves?" Rosalie asked.

Jasper perked up at the idea and asked her to explain herself further.

"What if we girls dressed as guys?"

The idea was immediately shut down, being that it would be hard to hide our long hair and most likely our bodies from them.

In the end, it was a combination of ideas from everyone that we decided to use together. If anyone thought that our group was not compatible, it was then that they were proven wrong. All of us dressed up, not just the girls. We broke into the neighbor's house, who was known to be the largest man in all of Forks and stole his clothes. If the clothes were big on the guys, with the exception of Emmett, they were humongous on us girls. As more layers of clothes were applied, the more ridiculous...and different we all looked.

The next phase, was taken care of by the guys while the girls waited. It took all of ten minutes for the guys to return to Nessie with various dead zombie bodies. As much as we hated the idea of even coming close to the zombies, especially those that belonged to people we once knew, this was perhaps the most important part of our plan.

The bodies and body parts were placed on different parts of Nessie's body. I shuddered, as each limb, each body was tied with chicken wire. We hoped that not only would we look unapproachable enough to the humans, but also that the dead would not be able to smells us with their freaky senses. We were looking for as much cover as possible.

What hurt the most, besides putting dirt on our faces to make us look grungy, were the dents that were also put on Nessie to make her look like she'd been through war. With one last look towards my Grandma's childhood home, we all grabbed one gun and a melee weapon and entered Nessie.

Jasper took the wheel followed by Rosalie and then a very intimidating, bandana-wearing Emmett by the door. In the back seat, both Edward and Carlisle took each widow seat with me and Alice in the center.

Jasper eased Nessie forward and used moderate speed as to not draw attention from the zombies or humans. I couldn't help but look at what was left of Forks as we drove through it. It was scary just to remember how it once used to look. Now it was so empty and more quiet than what should be normal. There were a few zombies here and there, some standing still, others gorging themselves with whoever they had trapped.

We weren't looking to help people, as harsh as that may sound. We were looking to get out of this place, so we kept on driving.

The school began to appear in the background, and soon we were able to see the military vehicles. Just thinking about what goes going on inside the building had vile rising in my mouth. In the pit of my stomach I knew that the right thing would be to stop and try to at least save the girls inside, but survival instincts were running pretty strong and the last thing I wanted was to be one amongst those girls.

There were a few men standing guard next to the vehicles, and they were very armed. The biggest one in the group stood in front of the others, trying to showcase his importance and dominance in regards to his position. He slowly started to approach our vehicle with a smirk on his face, when all of a sudden he stopped advancing and his smirk faded from his face. When the other men noticed that he stopped, they stepped forward crowded around him to see what the problem was. He pointed straight at us and I could just imagine what we looked like from his perspective.

Jasper continued to drive and once he got close to the men, he slowed Nessie down to a cruise level. We rolled down the windows and peered out them to show them a good glance at our apparel as well as our weapons. A few of the men grimaced and the one in front saluted us forward. Jasper stopped the truck a few feet from them and eyed them down.

"Y'all got any supplies in there?" His voice was low and gruff, not the smooth tone I was used to.

The leader shook his head no, which was fine cause we had supplies of our own.

But then Jasper shocked the hell out of everyone with his next question. "What about bitches? Y'all got any of 'em?"

I wanted to fucking smack the back of his head and demand that he shut up and drive fast. This wasn't part of the plan at all. He was following one of his own out of the blue, and it was pissing me the hell off. The chances of these men giving us girls were slim to none, and even if they did, we had absolutely no room.

The leader paused and looked at his friends at a loss. They had girls alright, but just how willing were them to share was the question.

"If I say that we do, just what are you willing to trade for them?" he asked.

And as Jasper reached into the pocket of his thick jacket and removed what seemed like a packet of pills, I came to realize that he had planned this all along. Question was, why didn't he confide in us before? We could have helped him plan this the right way... or, we would have stopped him, which is why I guessed he decided not to tell us.

"Don't ya want weapons instead?" One of the small soldiers in the back answered.

Jasper lowered the window the rest of the way and motioned with a lazy wave to the outside of the truck and said, "Does it look like we need 'em?" Then he nodded towards the inside of the truck. "All we need is pussy."

Instinctively, I tilted my head forward so that the cap I was wearing would cover my face. As the wind picked up, I prayed that my hair would cooperate and stay inside the cap. I could see from the corner of my eye that the girls were copying me. In order to draw the attention away from us, the guys started to grunt and shake their weapons in agreement to what Jasper was saying. Words like pussy, bitches, and party were flying left and right.

I started to tense in response to the words, but one slight touch from Edward, I calmed down a bit. It was as if he knew that his touch alone was all I needed. In fact, I hated that it worked. I wanted to stay pissed at him because that way it was easier to know how to act around him. This way I could stay pissed at him without any excuse, rather than to be guessing if maybe today would be a day he would show emotion or not.

The military men seemed to be arguing among each other as to whether they should take Jasper's offer. When one of the guys in the back left towards the gymnasium, it became apparent that we would either be double crossed, or that they would take us up in the exchange.

No later than five minutes, the short man emerged with one older woman, a young child, and a young woman... as well as nine other men. They all stared at us in amazement, well... they stared at Nessie in amazement. They couldn't believe that we would sport zombies on the hood as a prize. Not knowing how crazy we were, they offered us the mother and daughter duo, as well as the young girl for exchange of the full bag of drugs.

"Y'all got any more little girls. My friend likes 'em young," Jasper drawled. As if to showcase just how serious he was, he pulled out another baggie filled to the brim with white powder.

_Oh! My! God! Where the hell did he get all of these drugs from?_

I could hear Alice's sharp intake of breath when Jasper said that. I was so disgusted with him. Where the hell did he think we could place these girls? We were so crammed already.

One of the older guys left again and returned this time with two little girls no older than four years old. Their clothes were tattered at best, and they were dirty from head to toe. One of the little girls had a little trail of blood dripping down her leg, soaking her white little frilly sock. It wasn't hard to imagine that these girls were being raped if only moments ago. They were clutching at each other, leaving trails of tears to run down their faces. In the background, you could hear woman crying for them to bring the little girls back.

Jasper, Emmett and Edward stepped out of the truck as Carlisle took position of the wheel. The boys made a show of inspecting the girls as they cringed together in a circle. Pleased with their purchase, Edward grabbed the smallest girl and began loading the other two little girls first to Alice, then me. Jasper took hold of the young woman and came to sit on Carlisle's old seat with the girl on his lap. Emmett being the last one outside, pulled the older woman with him and almost shoved her inside before he finally took a seat and slammed the door shut.

Before we left, Edward threw them a salute and then we were on our way with an over-cramped vehicle and crying girls. We drove for what felt was at least twenty minutes before I asked Jasper what the hell he was thinking by pulling that stunt. The girls stopped crying once they heard my voice.

"I was thinkin' that I couldn't leave without savin' at least a few of 'em with a clean conscience. Besides, the drugs I found in the scooter house were useful to save lives," he responded.

"You're woman!" exclaimed the older lady.

We took off our hats and let our hair fall down around our faces. We smiled the best we could, considering we were dirty beyond belief. Understandably, they were scared of us, and didn't completely trust us. I felt bad for them... to a certain extent. Yes, the little girls were taken from their mothers, but they were safe now. Whether I wanted or not, these girls were now considered part of our group, and that came with responsibility and protection. The little girls: Elena, Yvette, and Samantha, fell asleep as the sky became lighter with the time passing. The young woman, or teenager: Christine, was pregnant, which was why she was let go. The older woman: Deena, was just grateful that she was saved along with her daughter Elena.

They told us of how they were captured. They had listened to a radio call telling them to go to the airport. When they got there, the men were waiting for them, and that's when they were taken captive. The men were either killed, or used for labor before they were eventually killed at a later time or used just as the girls.

We all looked at each other, thinking the same thing: that could have been us. We had considered going to the airport after meeting with Jasper's family. It was now obvious that wouldn't be happening. We were counting on the call to be real, that there was someone out there, some type of form of government that still worked for the people.

Perhaps, this was the evidence we were really looking for, not to wait for someone in the outside to help us, but one that let us know that it was time that we saved ourselves. It was time that we started looking for our own haven.


End file.
